


Don't tell anyone

by KungFuGirl



Category: EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - High School, Child Neglect, Domestic Violence, M/M, Physical Abuse, Rape/Non-con Elements, Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-06-25 19:35:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 18
Words: 113,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15647535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KungFuGirl/pseuds/KungFuGirl
Summary: After a merge of a failing high-school with the best high-school, the city has to offer, the troubled teenagers of south-high try to stick together and cling to their secrets to not let anyone know. But some secrets are not meant to be kept and will slip through and reveal themselves to the new classmates eventually. What will the privileged rich kids do when they find out about all the problems their new classmates have been hiding from them?Pairings: Hunhan, Taoris, Kaisoo, Xiuchen, Baekyeol, SulayThis story deals with abuse, self-harm and other content, just a quick warning.





	1. a rocky start

Merging the failing school of the city with the most achieving school in the city was not only to save tax but also for the bad students of South High to finally start to learn. It seemed to be a good idea in theory, but in practice, everybody involved appeared to be unhappy with the circumstances.

 

Luhan rubbed his eyes while lifting his head of Yixing’s shoulder. The merge of the schools also meant, that the way to school for all the former students of South High, since the elite school SM High had better classrooms, material and generally a better environment and the sheer fact that South High was a lot smaller than SM High, pretty much took sealed the deal. One hour. That’s how long it took Luhan to travel to school in the morning, and having to be there at 8am didn't help his already bad sleeping habits or his mood for that matter. This would be his first day in the new merged school and while rolling into the bus stop in front of the school, Luhan already knew he would hate it. The luxurious cars of the students from SM High were parked in the parking lot for everyone to see that they had a rich daddy.

Yixing lifted his hand to touch the wrinkles on Luhan’s forehead, caused by his bad mood.

"别担心,"(don’t worry) said Yixing in Chinese as he hugged the boy beside him. Speaking in Chinese was one of the things Luhan missed the most in Korea. Even though his Korean was fluent and most people couldn't even hear that accent of a non-native speaker, he would always prefer speaking in his native language. It felt easier to make his feelings understood. Easier to express himself. That’s why he always clung to the younger Yixing ever since the day they met.

"起来，我们得下车," (get up, we have to get out of the bus), said Yixing and pulled Luhan by his arm. Not leaving the bus seemed like a good idea to Luhan. He didn’t want to deal with his new, mostly rich and spoiled classmates, but Yixing was right, he shouldn't skip his first day, that would only cause trouble.

Reluctantly he got up and stepped foot out of the bus and walked into his new school. He didn’t know where to go, they got handed a schedule on the last day in their old school, based on the few choices they had in selecting classes, but Luhan had never stepped foot into this school and information like biology, room C45 didn’t help with anything. Yixing had a different class than him and Luhan lost him in the crowd. Disoriented and not even knowing where to find his locker, if he even had one, he scouted for a student with expensive clothes and a smug look on his face. Easily, he found one. A short boy with a pretty face and bleached hair.

"Hey, do you know where C45 is?" he asked and the boy looked at him, up and down, critiquing his clothes.

"Other building third floor, I think on the right," he said and gestured in the direction of the other building.

"Thanks," Luhan said and forced himself to give the boy a half-hearted smile.

"I didn't know that South High had this pretty students," the boy mumbled to himself, but Luhan could hear it while passing him. And it really didn’t help to lighten his mood. Pretty… he hated that word.

"Fuck that dumb smug," he mumbled loudly to himself, but a short dark haired boy next to him heard it and gave him an angry glare.

"It's absolutely unacceptable to talk like this about fellow students! If I hear something like this one more time I am going to talk to the administration about your behaviour problems!” he said.

"Fuck of!” Luhan eyed him and simply said before going in direction of the building the smug little boy told him.

"Hey, I am talking with you!” the other screamed and run behind him.

"But I am not with you!" Luhan answered and walked a bit faster. But the stranger grabbed his arm. Luhan turned around in annoyance.

"Your name please," said the strange boy with an authoritarian voice and locked his brown eyes with Luhan’s.

"Fuck you", Luhan answered, twisted his arm out of the other’s grip and continued walking away.

"I am the school council president and my mother is the principal of this school, I will not tolerate this behaviour!" he screamed and ran after him. Luhan started to run too, he just wanted to be left alone. He sprinted up the stairs and then finally, he stormed into the room his assigned classroom. But the other guy stormed into the room right after him. He went straight to the teacher while Luhan chose a seat in the third row. He stared at the other. Talking to the teacher, what the fuck was wrong with this guy, why couldn't he just let it go?

"Your name please," asked the teacher looking at Luhan with an indifferent look.

"Luhan," he answered and felt defeated. The teacher looked up and down his list till he finally found him and made a cross behind his name, then handed the list to the annoying brat who took a picture of his name and then finally left the room. Luhan felt a little sick thinking about the possibility of actual repercussions. But he scratched the idea and tried to concentrate during the lesson.

 

 

The canteen was not significantly fuller than usual, but considering that South High only had about 150 students to begin with, it was barely noticeable that they were here. Well, barely noticeable size wise. Between the clothes that were cheaper and older, the cheap haircuts and bad dying and the few students that just couldn’t behave if their life depended on it, it was quite easy for Xiumin to determine who was formally from South High and who wasn't. Sitting next to Baekhyun, his best friend, he carefully examined the new students.

"Have you seen the cute one over there?" Xiumin asked and gestured to a skinny boy with light brown hair and big deer like brown eyes. His facial features were delicate and his skin looked like porcelain. If this wouldn't be an all-boys school, Xiumin would have sworn he was a girl.

"He has biology in C45 Mondays at 8:15 till 9:45," said Baekhyun and smiled.

"How do you know that?" Xiumin asked irritated.

"He asked me for the way earlier. And yes, he is just as cute in close up." Xiumin grinned his mischievous smile and picked at his food.

"Hey Sehun you loner, come and sit with us," Xiumin said loudly and gestured to the empty places at their table. Eye-rolling, the said boy sat down next to Baekhyun, and set down his plate of food onto the table.

Sehun’s father was a lawyer and a work friend of Baekhyun’s lawyer parents. Xiumin’s parents both worked in the medical field, his father being a doctor and his mom a psychiatrist, who knew Sehun’s mother who worked as a Psychologist quite well. That was the reason why the two older boys knew the tall skinny boy, even though he was a year younger than them. For some reason sitting with them turned into a regular thing over the last semester. Sehun and Kai, at this point his only friend in his grade, was also sitting with them nearly every day at lunch. With them, Suho and Kris. Speaking of the duo, they both just came to sit at their table. Now the only one missing of the group was Kai.

"What do you think about the new kids?” Kris asked while eating and staring at his phone.

"Haven't spoken to any of them yet," Xiumin said while chewing.

"Me neither," Sehun said.

"I just hope their grades will not ruin our school ranking and reputation," Suho said and asked the others, "have you heard about the assessment exams?”

"I wish I could say no," Sehun mumbled. Earlier today, during the 15-minute break between classes, an announcement was made through the speakers saying that because of the new students joining the classes mid-semester there would be tests in every subject on Wednesday and Thursday so that the teachers would know the students’ level. But even though the tests were supposed to be more like assessments than actual tests, the grade would be important.

"I'm probably going to spend my free time on studying for those freaking tests!” Sehun said frustrated while shovelling a bunch of food in his mouth.

"Watch your language!” Suho said annoyed.

"Yes Mom!” Sehun replied while rolling his eyes. Swearing was strictly forbidden in SM High, but Sehun wouldn’t even consider ‘freaking’ as a swear word. Suho was kind of strict with the rules, and as the son of the school principal, being the student council president and the student in charge of guidance problematic students, a prefect you could say, he felt compelled to enforce the rules at any time. That's what made his friends call him mom whenever he did it. It was annoying and sometimes a bit rude, but Suho at one point or another helped every one of them out of trouble with teachers, students or regulations so they forgave him quickly.

 

 

 

Luhan was ordered to the principal’s office after the lunch break and there he was, not sure what to expect. Being called to the principal at day one of a new semester must be a record. Luhan felt physically ill just thinking about it. He stood in front of the short-haired lady for a moment till she looked up from her papers and looked at him up and down.

"You know that swearing is prohibited at this school," she asked cold and looked him in the eyes.

"Yes," he mumbled trying to look anywhere but her eyes. She, on the other hand, kept staring him down.

"This is your first day here and because you are new and already violated the rules, I am going to use you as an example for the other troublemakers.” This made Luhan look at her in sheer terror. “I am going to call your parents and have a lovely talk with them," she continued and Luhan nearly forgot how to breathe.

"Now go back to class please, you are already late and we don't want to make that into a habit don't we?" she ordered and dismissed the shocked boy out of her office. The panic kept on rising in Luhan and instead of the gym he went straight to the washrooms, seeing his pale, terrified face in the reflection in the mirror, he tried running his helplessly trembling hands through his hair but nothing helped him calm down. So he sunk down next to the sink, knees to his chest, his hands on his temples, hoping nobody would find him for a while.

 

 

 

The sports teacher was calling down the names from his list while Suho scanned through his class. Not only were Kris, Xiumin, and Baekhyun in his sports class but also a few new students. Chanyeol, a tall skinny kid with a confused look on his face, Chen, a skinny boy his height, who looked tired with big bags under his eyes. Also, he seemed a bit unhealthy or at least unwell cared for in his old, slightly dirty, slightly ripped sports clothes and uncombed hair. Another one of the new kids was called Lay, not even trying to make small talk with anybody he sat alone, slightly outside the circle they all were sitting in. His eyes were on the ground, sometimes looking to the door. The last one of the new kids in the class was a skinny short guy with big eyes and a slightly squishy look. But he was not the last one of the new kids in class.

"Luhan?" the teacher asked for the second time and still nobody raised a hand. Suho cursed his luck, of course, the rude boy from earlier had to be in his year. He raised his hand. The teacher nodded in his direction.

"He had a meeting with the principal for behavioural problems, he could be running late!" The teacher nodded at him and made a note on his list.

"Has anyone of you his number?" The teacher asked whilst gesturing to the new kids he asked.

All the new ones looked at the shy guy Suho thought was Lay. He mumbled something inaudible and said quietly, "I'll go and call him." With that, he stood up and ran to the changing rooms where they all had to leave their phones.

Meanwhile, the class was doing their warm-up, running 2 kilometres and stretching afterwards, it was now 30 minutes after the class started and still no sign of Luhan or Lay.

"Suho, can you please go and get the missing students?" the teacher said with a slightly annoyed voice and Suho stood up. What were they thinking? Skipping class on the first day? Lay was not in the locker room anymore so Suho decided to search elsewhere. Both of them would be in so much trouble as soon as he found them.

 

 

 

Luhan was hysterically shaking when he heard the door of the washroom open. Not even looking up he heard somebody enter and felt the stare the other boy gave him. But he didn't look up, he couldn't, there was no way he could stand looking at someone who just saw him this vulnerable. That’s when his phone rang. With shaking hands he stared at it, seeing Yixing’s name on the screen, it took his trembling hands three attempts to accept the call.

"你在哪里? (Where are you?)" Yixing asked.

"卫生间(bathroom)," he answered with his breaking voice.

"你好吗? (Are you ok?)" Yixing asked immediately after hearing Luhan’s broken voice.

"请来吧,"(Please come here). Yixing ended the call and Luhan’s phone slipped out of his hands. But it didn't land on the floor, someone caught it. That made Luhan looks up. The stranger that was watching him seemed to be a younger student, his hair a dark black and even though he had no double eyelid his eyes where big. Visible eye bags under his eyes gave him a similarity to a panda. That thought made Luhan smile a bit.

"发生了什么事? 我能帮助吗?(What happened? Can I help?)”

Luhan didn’t expect for the stranger to speak in Chinese and for a moment he stopped shaking.

"你也是中国人吗? (Are you Chinese too?), " he asked. The younger boy who now sat next to him on the bathroom floor nodded and put an arm around the shaking Luhan.

"你叫什么名字? (What is your name?)” the younger boy asked.

"鹿晗, 你呢?(Luhan and you?)”

"黄子韬(Huang Zitao).”

A few moments of silence till Luhan asked, "你的家乡在那儿?(What City do you come from?)”

"青岛。 你来了北京，对吗?(Qingdao. You are from Beijing, right?)” The older boy just nodded, knowing that his Beijing accent was a dead giveaway for anyone guessing and got a little closer to the taller Chinese boy so he could fully sink into his embrace and block the world and his problems out. Only a few moments of silence and the washroom door was opened again.

"鹿晗? (Luhan)" he heard Yixing say. Luhan made a squeezed noise and he saw Yixing come around the corner. "不好意思，我找不到了你。什么事发生了?(Sorry, I couldn't find you. What happened?)”

Yixing didn't need to ask. He knew. Knew what probably happened and what will happen because of it. He sat down on the other side of Luhan and put his arm around his small body, not saying anything for a while. Between sobs and hugs, Luhan introduced Yixing to the younger Chinese boy. With nods and a quick smile, no one broke the silence. That’s when the bathroom door opened again, in walks a tall boy with rainbow hair looking utterly confused.

"Ahem, Tao? The teacher sent me to find out where you are," he said and squatted down to the level of the still shaking and crying Luhan. Tao looked confused and seemed to not want to answer.

"你能去。我跟他呆, (You can go, I'm staying here with him) " Yixing said looking at Tao.

"好啊,"(Ok) Tao mumbled, gave Luhan’s shoulder a squeeze and stood up. The rainbow-haired boy was watching the short conversation confused, shaking off of his fascinated look before he grabbed Tao’s arm and dragged him lightly to the door when someone else came in. Luhan’s heart nearly stopped when he saw the guy from earlier, the one responsible for this whole situation.

"Hey Sehun," he greeted the rainbow-haired boy till his gaze landed on Luhan, who was hiding his face on his knees and Yixing next to him. His look hardened and with his authoritative voice, he began.

"What are you two thinking? Skipping class on day one! You are a disgrace not only to your parents but also for your former school. This might have been acceptable in your old school but here, we will crush down on this behaviour as soon as you decide to behave this way. I am going to talk to your teacher about this!” He only stopped to breathe in. Sehun who took a glance at the enraged Tao decided to step in. He didn't know why exactly he decided to cover for the boys but he knew that he wouldn't want Suho scolding him when he was already miserable in a bathroom.

"Suho," he muttered and put a hand on his shoulder.

"What?” he replied angrily. One more glance at the crying boy and he just went with the first excuse he could think of.

"He is not feeling well and Tao found him in the bathroom. We wanted to bring him to the nurse just as you came in." Suho’s features softened a bit and Sehun thanked the heavens that his lie seemed believable.

"And you need 3 people for that task?" he asked, hinting to Sehun and Tao to let him manage the situation, but for the crying boy’s sake, Sehun improvised another excuse.

"These two," gesturing to Tao and Yixing, "are his friends, but because they're all new they don't even know where the nurse’s office is." Suho signed and glared at Sehun.

"Bring him to the nurse’s office and then you two," gesturing to the younger boys, "go back to class immediately, do you understand?" Sehun nodded.

"I'll tell the teacher where you are," Suho said in Lays direction.

Lay said a quiet thank you and then tried to help the other boy to get up. Not only was Luhan still shaking slightly but after sitting so stiff for this long, his legs barely moved. Tao and Lay each slung one arm around him and tried guiding the older while Sehun picked his bag off the ground and gestured the others to follow him. Suho looked after them questioning himself and his reaction to the situation. He should have given them the benefit of the doubt before assuming the worst, but after his encounter with Luhan earlier he had a bad impression of the new student that he couldn't just shake away. He made his way back to the gym to inform the teacher about the missing students.

 

 

 

"That took a long time," the teacher commented after Sehun and Tao slipped back into the classroom. Tao said nothing, just as he had the whole way back from the nurse’s office. Even if Sehun would ask him something he stayed silent. Sehun didn't get his behaviour but decided that it was his to explain the situation to the teacher.

"Tao found one of his friends in the bathroom who was sick, so he decided to bring him to the nurse, but since he is new, he didn't know where the nurse is."

A slight nod from the teacher before gesturing them to sit down again. Sehun slid down onto his place next to Jongin, who looked at the younger in question.

"I mean it, I came into the bathroom and he and another one of the new guys were sitting on the floor comforting a crying boy. I have no idea what happened and they weren't talking Korean so I don't even have a clue. And Tao apparently doesn't talk to me, even though I helped him and the other two out of trouble with a raging Suho," he whispered to his friend. The elder seemed confused at all of that but Sehun just shook his head, rolled his eyes and let out a sign, making Jongin understand to let it go. But Sehun wasn't about to let it go. Why on earth did Tao not talk to him? Not even an answer to yes or no questions. And what language where the other speaking earlier? It wasn't English… maybe they had Spanish or something in their old school? Confused Sehun let his hands run through his hair, making it look messier than it already did. He didn’t understand any of the newbies. Not at all, not even a bit.


	2. extracurricular activities, new friendships and black eyes

The last lesson of each day was an extracurricular activity, though it was mandatory, the word didn't really make sense. But there were a variety of subjects to choose from and usually lead to a good grade without a lot of effort in these subjects. After P.E. class, Suho had to hurry up to get ready to not be late for his extracurricular class. Since Yixing still hasn't returned from taking Luhan to the nurse’s office, Suho decided to take his things and walk there to check on the two boys and remind them of the mandatory extracurricular classes. On his way to the nurses’ office, he saw Jongin and Sehun coming out of their classroom.

"Hey Sehun," he calls the younger as he pushed past a few other younger students to get to his friend, "what happened to the student you took to the nurse?" he asked curiously. Sehun just shrugged his shoulders.

"We brought him there and went back to class. The other one stayed.”

"What did he have?” Suho ordered to know.

"Don't know. He was crying and couldn't walk," Sehun answered while waving goodbye to Jongin (who had literature in the next period while) Sehun had chosen Chinese class. Suho nodded and gave Sehun’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze while passing the boy on his way to the nurse’s.

There was Yixing, sitting on the end of one of the small beds in the nurse’s room. The other boy lay curled up in a ball, not crying anymore, but seemingly paler than when Suho saw him this morning.

"Both of you should go to class now!" Suho said, making both of them notice him. Luhan rolled his eyes and gave Suho an angry stare, but slowly got up from the bed and slipped back into his shoes standing by the bed. Yixing looked more neutral than his friend. Suho waited by the door until both of the boys left the room, handing Yixing his bag as he passed him, and then followed the others.

"What the fuck do you want?!” Luhan screamed, turning around.

"To make sure you two don't skip class,” Suho said. "Also, do you want another meeting with my mother?" If at all possible, the other boy got even paler than before, but his facial expression hardened.

"You..." he began but Yixing acted fast, slinging an arm around his friend’s shoulder and dragged him with him. Saying something Suho didn't understand. Suho was confused, they didn't speak particularly quiet so why did he not understand it? Were they mumbling that bad? He ran after them after they picked up speed and followed them to their Chinese class, where he watched them enter.

Only after, when he saw the door closing did he hurried through the empty hallways to his class, for philosophical and political discussions. He was already late. A discussion had already started when he entered the room, slipping in the only empty seat in the chair circle, next to one of the boys from South High that seemed to look familiar to Suho. After thinking about it, he recalled the boy’s face as the one from Sehun’s class. Trying to get into a conversation he introduced himself to the new boy.

"Hello, I’m Suho, you are friends with some of my classmates right? What is your name?" No response. The younger boy just looked confused before he shrugged his shoulders at him. Confused but also a bit angry for getting no reply from the younger he asked him. "What’s today’s discussion topic?" Again no response.

Suho was getting more and more furious from the fact that the younger was clearly ignoring him so he decided, after stating his viewpoint on the question about the upcoming election, to pick his seat neighbour to answer the question. But he didn't, and the whole room fell into an awkward silence for a few seconds, till the teacher repeated the question, thinking the other may have forgotten it, but again the only thing coming back was silence. Skipping him another student answered the question and the discussion went on for a while, till the next time Sehun’s classmate (Suho found out his name was Tao) was picked. And again the class was met with silence, stopping the discussion and making everybody awkwardly look everywhere but not to the newbie.

Was he just shy? But why would someone choose a class for discussions if they had trouble speaking in front of people? Suho didn't understand and the whole situation made him more and more furious. 

 

 

 

"You are late!” the teacher said when the two students slipped into the room approximately seven minutes after class began. They uttered a quiet sorry and looked around the room realizing that there were only a few empty places and none of those next to each other. Luhan sighed, while the teacher decided to help them with their decision where to sit. "Pretty boy, you can sit here in the first row, the one with the black shirt, sit by the window next to Kris please!” Both sighed again and made their way to the empty chairs.

"Who is Luhan and who is Yixing?" the teacher asked, looking at the attendance list.

"I'm Luhan," Luhan said vaguely noticing that the boy sitting to his right was the classmate of Tao, who guided him to the nurse’s office. The other one he didn't know. Another one of the rich SM kids, with a round face that seemed to indicate a high weight, but his body seemed normal. The slightly cat-like eyed boy with the round cheeks gave him a smile. And Luhan returned a nervous quick smile.

"Do you guys have a Chinese name?" the teacher asked while marking their attendance.

“Same as on the list," Yixing replied and she finally looked up from her list.

"Any prior Chinese learning experience?" she continued, seemingly not catching onto the fact that their names where both Chinese names.

"Ahem, we are both from China," Luhan said uncomfortably.

"真的? 来什么城市?" (Really? Which city are you from?)

"我来了北京，艺兴来了长沙，在湖南省," (I am from Beijing and Yixing is from Changsha in Hunan province) Luhan answered quickly. The teacher was smiling brightly.

"好的, 好的, 我希望你们跟你的同学要帮助学."(I hope you will help you classmates with studying Chinese). Both boys were nodding and the teacher continued talking to the class, while Luhan got a bit uncomfortable with his seat neighbour staring at him.

"So you were talking Chinese to my classmate earlier?" the boy to Luhan’s right whispered.

"Yea," Luhan mumbled.

"So Tao is also Chinese?" he asked and Luhan gave him a nod.

"He is from Qingdao." The boy next to him pretended to know where this is and Luhan pretended to believe him.

"Where are you from?" The boy to his left asked.

"Beijing," he answered and got a smile in return.

"I've been there on holidays before!" Luhan simply gave him a knowing look and tried to focus on the teacher... Not that he needed to pay attention, but his seat neighbours probably did.

The class had a mixed level, some were complete beginners, some already intermediate. Half the lesson consisted of self-studying for the one group, while the others were learning with the teacher. The boys next to Luhan where both beginners, so they had the first half of the lesson with the teacher, learning how to read Chinese pinyin. Afterwards, they were supposed to study in their textbooks but both boys rather used the opportunity to talk to Luhan.

"I'm Xiumin by the way, and that's Sehun," Xiumin introduced himself. "You're also in my sports class right? Are you feeling better? Suho said you were sick," Xiumin said giving Luhan a side hug, just like Yixing sometimes does. He glanced at Sehun hoping he wouldn't spill the tea on him but he didn't seem to do so.

"Yes, I’m feeling a lot better now!"

"You didn't miss anything, sports sucks anyways," Xiumin said, still hugging Luhan and rested his head on Luhan’s shoulder.

"Xiumin’s worst subject is sports! I don't even know how that’s possible," Sehun said and gained a glare from the older.

"You better prepare for the evaluations this week or my sports grade will be better than yours!" Mentioning the evaluation Luhan held his breath for a moment. That wouldn't be pretty.

"Are you a good student?" Sehun asked and Luhan shook his head. "Welcome to the club," Sehun said grinning. "At least your friends will not force you to study with them," he continued as to lighten the mood. Luhan smiled.

"If you want to we can study together? What subjects do you need to study the most?" Xiumin asked.

"Don't know, everything is a train wreck on occasions."

"Well then you better pray for the best, I'm sure the ones with bad grades will have it harder in class," Xiumin said.

"Fuck my life," Sehun sighed.

 

 

 

Literature class was basically nothing but picking a book to read and then writing an essay about that book, and then pick the next book, and so on, and so on… Jongin and Baekhyun chose the class for the sole purpose of relaxing and hanging out with each other. And that’s exactly what they were doing, both having the Korean version of Harry Potter in front of them, spending most of their time quietly talking to each other.

"Have you talked to any of the new ones yet?” Jongin asked looking over the few unfamiliar students in their class.

"One of them asked me for the way earlier," Baekhyun answered. "You?"

"Nope, they seem to keep to themselves."

"Really, you think so?” the shorter one asked.

"Maybe they’re just waiting for us to make the first move"

"Sehun told me one of the new ones didn't even answer him after he asked him questions. He was just ignoring him," Jongin sighed.

"Maybe he was just too shy or something,“ Baekhyun shrugged, scanning the room again.

"Oh boy, I feel his struggle," he said gesturing to a black-haired boy standing with his back to them on his tiptoes trying to reach a book but failing to by a centimetre. "Go help him giant!" he ordered the significantly taller Jongin. Eye-rolling about his friend’s authoritative command, Jongin got up and crossed the room with a few steps, reaching for the book easily and handing it to the shorter boy. The other looked up at him with big owl-like eyes and an angry look.

"Thanks, I guess," he answered staring at Jongin only for a second before glaring at the ground.

"Happens to my friend Baekhyun all the time, no need to be ashamed," he said with a smirk, trying to make the encounter less awkward.

"Short people problems," the other shrugged, still looking uncomfortable.

"Wanna sit with us? You seem a bit lost," Jongin offered, desperately trying to keep the conversation going.

"Well I'm new, of course, I will be a bit lost the first day," the other answered and let out a sigh.

"Come sit with us," he said again and the boy with the raven hair finally gave in following Jongin to the table he shared with Baekhyun.

"Hey, I'm Baekhyun, nice to meet you!" Baekhyun looked up and smiled brightly.

"Kyungsoo," the other answered quickly and eyed the empty seat, not wanting to accidentally take Jongin’s.

"I'm Jongin by the way, you can sit here Kyungsoo," the taller boy gestured to the seat next to his. The other taking the offer and sitting down, only for Baekhyun to lean over the table to ask.

"You’re in my sports class right?" Prompting a nod from Kyungsoo’s side and another grin from Baekhyun. "How do you like it here so far?"

"It's different, don't know how to feel about it," he continued looking at the table as he replied.

“You're gonna love it here in no time." Another awkward smile was received from Kyungsoo when somebody called his name.

"Here you are, I was searching for you!" a guy even taller than Jongin screamed in the library. Kyungsoo gave him a deadly glare and he understood putting a hand over his mouth to shut himself up. Slightly intimidated he sat down next to his former classmate smiling awkwardly at the other boys.

"This is my former classmate Chanyeol, we've been in the same class since middle school," Kyungsoo explained and then gestured the others to Chanyeol. "These are Jongin and Baekhyun," Chanyeol gave both of them his brightest smile and getting a similar one back from the shorter one. They stopped their conversation as the teacher walked past them, reminding them all to read their books.

 

 

 

On Tuesday Xiumin was nearly too late for his first class because he simply couldn't get out of bed. Right before the actual lesson could start he entered the room, giving it a quick scan for any of his friends. Baekhyun and Suho were sitting in the third row, so naturally, he went straight to them and sat next to Suho, with an empty seat on his other side. Korean classes were not that hard for Xiumin, never have been, so even though he was barely listening during the lesson, he usually managed to get good grades. The teacher started to check their attendance, and while he was doing that, another student entered the room, Suho next to him saying something condescending.

It took the round-faced boy a few seconds to realise that the person was now heading for the only empty seat next to him. It was Luhan. The Chinese boy from Chinese class. But he looked different than yesterday. Specifically, he had a black eye and a swollen lip.

“What have you done to your face? If you are getting into fights the administration has to get involved,” Suho hissed at him, getting nothing but a neutral look from the other.

“I fell down the stairs and face planted into the shoe shelf,” he answered and directed his attention back on finding his book in his bag pack.

“Stop it Kim Junmyeon,” Xiumin scolded Suho for automatically assuming the worst and leaned with his head on Luhan’s shoulder. “Does it hurt badly?” he asked and gently touched Luhan’s lip.

“Not anymore. It’s fine,” he said, trying not to go into the discussion any further, cause the teacher was already looking at them. Luhan was struggling in Korean class, he took too long to read the text they were interpreting and couldn’t finish it in time, so he didn’t understand what the others were talking about. The judging looks the principal’s son gave him and his injuries didn’t help him to focus.

Xiumin seemed to be a touchy person, spending half the lesson side hugging Luhan with his head on Luhan’s shoulder. Luhan was glad when the lesson ended, even though he was not too keen to have physics class next. He had hoped to have the same classes as Yixing but even though they had chosen the same subjects, they didn’t end up in the same classes.

“What do you have next period?” Xiumin asked as soon as the bell rang.

“Physics”, he answered, trying to stuff all his belongings into his bag pack and rush out. He really wanted to avoid any other encounters with the asshole ‘my mom is the principal and I will, therefore, enforce every minor rule’, guy. Luhan now knew his name was Junmyeon or Suho, but that didn’t make him like the traitor.

“Ugh, I got Biology, but maybe we have English together later.” Luhan just smiled and nodded, while getting up. “You can eat lunch with us if you want”, Xiumin said excitedly.

Slightly awkward Luhan replied, “I’m eating with one of my friends.”

“Oh,” Xiumin said and now also looked around a bit awkwardly. “I got to go to class, see you later I guess,” he said and hurriedly got out of the classroom, but only one floor down, he realized that Suho was following him.

“Hey Luhan,” he said and caught up to the older boy.

“What?!” he answered in annoyance.

“What actually happened? Who did you fight with?” he asked pointing to his black eye.

“Nobody, I told you I fell down the stairs!”

“You don’t appear to be a clumsy person to me,” the other replied and Luhan tried to control his breathing to stop himself from losing his temper.

“Well, apparently you don’t know me that well,” he answered. Trying to just walk away, only to realise that the other ran behind him.

“And you don’t know me if you think I will just take your bullshit. If I find any proof of what actually happened, I will make sure you will be punished!” he said loudly in his annoying authoritative voice.

“Well good luck, the shoe shelf at home isn’t very talkative!” Luhan ran off, sprinting through mildly crowded corridors. Since he was a fast runner, he hoped to shake the other off easily, and that’s exactly what happened. Relived, he slipped into his next class.

 

 

 

“Suho, stop it!” Kris said, with a voice even more authoritative than Suho’s. He was the only one Suho usually listened to when he was on one of his social justice warrior rants. The victim: One of the new students and seemingly Luhan’s best friend, Lay. The victim had chosen a seat in the back of the room where Suho, Kris and Xiumin’s biology class was. Suho was determined to find out where Luhan’s bruise actually came from decided to interrogate Lay a bit but was blocked by Kris, who pushed him to the side a bit, to make sure he was sitting as a buffer zone between his friend and the innocent new student.

 

Honestly, Kris didn’t care about the new student Suho seemed to have a feud with, but he hated it when other people got dragged into the crossfire, so for the fellow Chinese’s sake, he tried stopping Suho from his plans. He knew him from Chinese class but hadn’t really talked to him so far. Xiumin, who sat to Junmyeon’s right also glared at him annoyed, so he had no other choice than surrender and at least for the moment stop it. He was still determined to find out what the new student had to hide, but for the time being, he had to stop his plans, for his friend’s sake.

The biology teacher handed out papers with quizzes to prepare them for the test they would have the following day so everybody worked on their sheets in silence before finally being able to check their answers.

“How can you be this bad in Biology, it’s really not that hard, what kind of lessons did you have in your old school to suck this much?” Suho said loudly to Yixing after he took a look at his paper. The other quickly looked away in embarrassment.

 

"Kim Junmyeon, are you looking for trouble? What is your problem?" Kris was furious. This behaviour simply wasn't ok, no matter the circumstance and Suho should know better. Luckily for Suho, the teacher stopped their exchange before he could respond, getting nothing but one of Kris' deathly glares. He had to admit, his behaviour was definitely not ok, and decided to apologize to Yixing after class. He tried focussing, but his thoughts drifted at how the new students would damage the schools’ overall grades.

 

Suho plan was to apologize to Yixing right after class, but before he could even lift his head the other had already gotten up and sprinted out of the classroom. These new students were always running indoors, even though it was prohibited by the school rules! It annoyed him. He would need to start enforcing this rule again!

"Why the face?” Baekhyun asked gesturing to Suho’s frowning face. He was standing by his locker next to him during their fifteen-minute break where they had to change classrooms.

"I wanted to apologize to Yixing about my behaviour earlier but he ran out of the room like there's no tomorrow.”

“Xiumin told me, you were quite an asshole so you should still do that, maybe you can catch him during lunch break," Baekhyun suggested.

"I'll try," Suho said packing his things.

"Next lesson is math," Baekhyun pretended to be excited, but Suho knew how much he struggled in math class.

"What class are you in," he asked getting a lifeless ‘three’ from Baek. “I’m in class one so I guess I can't help you during class," he said and gave his friend a pat on the back.

"I'll survive," the other replied and sighed. "See you at lunch."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are a few more hints about what might be going on with the south high kids in this chapter. Maybe you caught them already ;) Maybe not. I'd love to hear your theories in the comments :)  
> See you soon  
> XOXO


	3. Bringing failure to a new level

Kyungsoo, not being comfortable sitting with the students from SM-high, fearing judgement or rejection decided to sit with two of his former classmates, which he barely even knew. Yixing usually kept to himself or hung out with the other Chinese boy Luhan, but in the few encounters he has had with him, he seemed to be a nice guy. Chen, on the other hand, Kyungsoo simply knew too little about to make a judgement. He remembered him in middle school and how much he changed due to the difficult circumstances his life had put him through, but Kyung was sure he was still the nice funny person he used to be even though he lost his carelessness.

"Welcome to the club of losers," Chen said head motioning to the chair to his right.

„That’s where I belong," Kyungsoo answered and sat down, letting his bag plummet on the table.

„Us train wrecks have to stick together," Chen said, resting an arm around Lays shoulder. Lay didn't look quite right, looking onto the table, if Kyungsoo didn't know better he would say he looked sad. But as long as he could remember failing Math was more of a running gag for him than actually concerning. Maybe something else was bothering him.

Right before class started another boy, a well put together black-haired SM-high student tried to enter into their row but was cut if by Chen with the words: "This is losers only, find a new place." The other rolled his eyes slightly and sat into a seat in the row in front of them.

Trying as hard as he could Kyungsoo had to admit to himself that there was no hope to pass the upcoming examinations in math. The topics were harder than the ones in south-high and he couldn't follow what happened at all. Defeated he rested his head on Chen’s bony shoulder just like Yixing did on his other shoulder. This was completely hopeless!

"Your shoulder is uncomfortable," he muttered quietly gaining a pinch to his cheek.

"Yours isn’t any better!"

He was right, Kyungsoo was also a bit bony, but annoying others had always been his favourite thing so he just pretended to be offended. Finally saved by the bell they all sprinted out of the classroom, trying not to spend an extra minute thinking about math.

"Do you wanna sit with us?" Chen asked gesturing to him and Yixing, most likely also referring to Luhan, since he and Yixing were nearly inseparable.

"Next time ok? I promised Chanyeol to eat with him."

"Sure, bring him next time. The clan has to grow!" Chen joked and waved goodbye as he walked, an arm slung around the still down looking Yixing, straight to the canteen while Kyungsoo waited for Chanyeol to show up.

"Hey Soo," an unfamiliar voice shouted and Kyungsoo confused by the new nickname turned around seeing the tall boy he met yesterday followed by a guy with rainbow dyed hair.

"Jongin right?" he said slowly.

"Kai is also fine," the younger said. "This is Sehun by the way,” gesturing to the boy with the rainbow hair. Kyungsoo gave him a quick smile while he pressed himself against the wall to not get trampled over by a bunch of students entering the canteen.

"Wanna come eat with us?" Kai asked smiling.

"I'm waiting for Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo answered but Jongin proceeded to guide him to a table on the right corner of the room.

„He can join us too. Stop being an outcast and hang out with people from SM -high, you’re now one of us remember?"

Kyungsoo let himself be guided and sat down nervously looking for his friend. Sehun and Kai were getting their food, leaving their bags at the table, while Soo wasn't interested in getting food. Well that’s not true, he was unbelievably hungry, he hadn't had breakfast this morning, but he couldn't get any food today, he had no money with him.

“There you are,” Chanyeol said with a tray of food in his hands.

“Jongin the guy in Literature class and a friend of his made me sit with them,” he said rolling his eyes, “Come join!”

Moving a bag he sat down, only to be joined minutes after by Baekhyun and a moonfaced guy he didn’t recognize. Baekhyun introduced him as Xiumin. Another two boys from their year joined shortly after, a tall slightly scary looking one introduced as Kris and the guy from math class, that Chen didn’t let sit with them. He was introduced as Junmyeon, but usually just Suho.

"Where's your food?" Suho asked gesturing to Kyungsoo and the lack of a tray with food.

„I’m not hungry, had a large breakfast," he mumbled propping his head on his arms trying to not fall asleep.

"It’s not good for your immune system to skip meals," Suho said gaining a sighed "mum" from Xiumin and Baekhyun.

"Don’t let him bother you, he always feels responsible," Baekhyun said eye rolling, gaining a weak nod from Kyungsoo as a reply. His eyelids felt heavier every second and with the intention of just sleeping for a minute or two, he slid into a coma-like deep sleep.

A few minutes after Kyungsoo fell asleep on the table Suho asked with a concerned look on his face: "Chanyeol, do you think he is ok?"

"Sure, why wouldn't he be?" the clumsy giant answered obliterate to Suho’s concern.

"Cause he's falling asleep on a table in a noisy canteen and frankly looking like he is dead asleep."

"That happens a lot, don’t worry about him. His sleeping schedule is just a bit messed up, maybe it’s just because he has a habit of sleeping through lunch break. He’s fine I swear," Chanyeol answered quickly, a bit too quickly as Kris noticed wondering why Chanyeol’s answer sounded a bit like an excuse instead of a genuine explanation to him. But Kris didn't ask because frankly, it wasn’t his business to begin with. Suho on the other hand completely bought the explanation provided and went back to scanning the room for Yixing. He still needed to apologise to him for his mean behaviour earlier.

He sat next to Luhan and the boy in politics that didn’t speak, the not well cared for new guy Suho thought was Chen sitting with them too. Excusing himself from his friends he made his way through the tables. He took a deep breath before approaching the boys, determined to not fight with Luhan for once.

"Yixing," he began, gaining the attention of three boys, Chen like Kyungsoo sleeping on the table.

"I wanted to apologise for my behaviour earlier," Suho said taking a seat across from the trio. The other just nodded looking on the table.

"I mean it that was unacceptable of me," Suho continued Yixing still looking onto the table.

"If you need any help with biology, I can tutor you," he offered with all sincerity. He meant it, seeing his mean words affecting the other made his heart ache a bit.

"You should take the offer," Luhan said leaning his head onto the shoulder of his younger friend. Suho was surprised with Luhan actions; he never would have thought that Luhan of all people would be the one to help him regain his classmate's trust. He mouthed a thank you to the older boy not gaining any reaction from the others delicate face.

"Luhan," he said with a slightly insecure tone in his voice, making the other look at him, dipping his head to the side just a little. "How about some peace between us?"

"Maybe," the other answered, head back to resting on Yixings shoulder. Suho gave him an honest smile while getting up and re-joining his friends.

 

 

 

Jongin ruffled Kyungsoo’s hair when it came time for the break to end and all of them to get back to their classes.

"Hey, get up," he said softly pinching his cheek a little with his other hand. Only a grown from the older. It took a few times for him to actually wake up, disoriented and sleepy he looked at Kai, who smiled brightly.

“Go to class, or you'll be late," he said, handing him a cardboard cup of coffee.

„No need to," Kyungsoo began to say getting cut off by Kai’s: "You're welcome, now get to class Soo.”

Without energy to fight he just accepted the coffee with a smile, grabbing his bag and hurrying through the nearly empty corridors to his room, luckily not being late. Deciding to sit with Lay and Chen again he squeezed his way through the other tables and chairs. The room for health class had no rows but instead tables for two standing together in bulks of three so every table group contained a maximum of 6 students. Kris, the tall guy sitting with them during lunch, that Kyungsoo hadn't talked to yet sat at the same table Chen and Lay sat on, together with the short moonfaced guy from earlier. Kyungsoo decided that apparently, this was his new group of friends so he sat down at their group table waiting for the lesson to start.

 

 

 

Trying to put their differences behind them Suho made the step to sit next to Luhan during Politics class, trying to start a conversation with the other, while also trying his best not to get lost with his suspicions that Luhan’s black eye had nothing to do with stairs and accidents and everything with a fight he got himself into. It was quickly clear to Suho, that he might never be friends with Luhan since he didn't trust him, but that Luhan seemed to be an easy to talk to person in general, easy going and easily approachable. But Suho wasn’t alone with his suspicious not trusting behaviour towards Luhan; the pretty boy also had his guards up talking towards Suho, never diving deep into a topic always staying at the safe shallow surface. But in the end, Suho had to admit to himself that he enjoyed talking to Luhan at least a little bit. Maybe, just maybe, they could both find a way to get along in the future.

 

 

 

Wednesday and Thursday passed in a blur, with exams in every period, Kyungsoo falling asleep during lunch break and math exam, a lot of students with a bad mood due to the exams and barely any talking during breaks because everybody seemed busy with last minute studying. Even at home, Suho couldn’t escape the exams cause his mother helped correcting them, spending a good amount of time enraged with the former south-high students for their terrible exams.

On the following Friday Suho was in school early because his mother had a meeting with the fellow teachers about the exam results and what to do with the slacking students, so he spent his time scanning the list of names and their result hung in the canteen. Every student’s results in every subject hung there, the student with the overall best results at number one, going down to 3417. A familiar name was the last number. Huang Zitao, grade one, he recalled the boy from extracurricular not talking ever. Scanning over his results Suho was confused. He got a 92 percent in math a 97 in sports and an 87 in English but every other subject he got zero points. Not a single point in history, politics, Korean, art... Art in specific was weird; describing the picture without any interpretation would land him 30 points easily. What happened during the exam to get zero points? Also, how can one get an A in math and 0 points in physics? Everything just didn’t line up, there was no clear reason for failing this bad in subjects partially really easy.

Scanning the list further, only a handful ranks above Tao, still on the same paper he found Chen the always slightly dirty looking kid that hung out with Luhan and Yixing quite a lot. He managed to fail every single subject without exception, unlike Tao who at least didn’t fail three of them. Shockingly close in rank he could see Kyungsoo, who failed everything but Korean, arts and English and also Yixing, who failed everything but sports, history and Chinese, but getting at least full 100 points in the last one, making him rank above his classmates Chen and Kyungsoo. Luhan surprised him, failing most subjects, but most of them just by a point or two. Unlike Chen, Kyungsoo and Yixing who all failed math for example with only 8 percent correct, Luhan’s scores were consistently between 55 and 59, just not the 60 percent he needed to pass; but at least close. The main reason he ranked a lot higher than his classmates were the margins he passed, passing Chinese with 100 points, English 98 and sports with a 95. But all in all not very impressive compared to most students of SM-high he still ranked quite low and after all, he still failed the majority of his classes.

Gladly Suho didn't find any of his friends so far down the list, the lowest being Sehun, getting exactly the same overall points as Chanyeol, the tall awkward boy following Kyungsoo nearly everywhere. Chanyeol did well in most subjects, failing chemistry and math by two points each. Sehun did ok in most subjects, only failing biology by a single point. Baekhyun made it onto rank 100, failing math and chemistry by a few points but ranking in the high 90s in every other subject. Xiumin ranking 84, the only subject ranking lower than 86 points being sports, he passed with a tight 61. Jongin being the highest score of grade one ranked at number 7, right under Suho’s rank 6. Kris ranking the highest score of the second grade placing him as number 3, only a point from the two guys from grade three sharing the number one position. Overall there was a clear difference in the scores between the SM and the former south-high kids. His mother was probably not amused to deal with the new students and their obvious problematic scores. Suho would take it upon himself to make at least the new boy Kyungsoo pass his classes since Jongin and Baekhyun made him hang out with them all the time.

 

 

 

Classes started a bit later today to give the students the ability to check their results before classes started. The canteen was really crowded when Sehun entered every student desperately trying to find their name, make a picture of the results and then get out of the way to not get trampled to death by the fellow students searching for their results.

"Rank 7," Kai screamed, even jumping around a bit while Sehun tried to concentrate on finding his name on the list.

"I did ok I guess,” he said scanning through his results and then quickly getting out of the way so others could scan the list.

"You did well Suho," Jongin said joining Suho who was standing slightly outside the crowd with a displeased face. “Did you see the horrible results of the new students?" he said grimly.

"That bad?" Sehun questioned, watching Suho nod and hand over his phone with pictures of some familiar names and their results.

"Tao got 0 points in seven subjects?! How?!" Jongin questioned loudly handing the phone to Sehun.

"Why did he pick political discussions in his extracurricular when he's so bad at it?" Sehun wondered out loud.

"Maybe he just sucks at the others too,” Suho said with a grim face.

„He’s Chinese, which would probably be a guaranteed 100 points, maybe he thought it wasn't allowed to choose Chinese when you're a native speaker," Sehun thought out loud.

"He’s Chinese?" Jongin said raising an eyebrow

"How do you know that?" Suho asked.

"Luhan told me, I heard them speak Chinese to each other and the other Chinese guy from your grade Suho," Sehun answered still scanning the results on Suho’s phone adding: “To be honest that’s probably why he’s hanging out with Luhan so much"

"Are you sure?" Suho asked sceptically.

"You can ask Luhan yourself. He even knew the city Tao was from," Sehun said, making Suho look a bit thoughtful for a moment. “Maybe I can ask my mother to switch him into Chinese, I know it’s not allowed but she might make an exception, since he probably thought he wasn't allowed to pick Chinese in the first place" That was one of Suho’s best trades, fighting for the best for fellow students without even really knowing them.

„But speaking of Luhan, he also failed 7 subjects, just like his friend Yixing and also Kyungsoo." The frown on his face reappeared.

"Even Soo?" Jongin replied shocked and watched Suho hand him his phone with the pictures of the results again.

"I did not know that," he sighed handing the phone to Sehun who seemed to focus more on Luhan’s results than the others.

„I’ll study with him in lunch-breaks and maybe after school, grades like this are unacceptable," Suho stressed. Jongin nodded but already pitied his short Hyung for the drills he would have to endure.

 

"Kyungsoo, high five to the 8 points in math," Chen screamed through half the canteen congratulating Kyungsoo for not getting a zero in mathematics. He accepted the high five smiling but nearly immediately being scolded by Suho coming over saying:

"Really, 8 points are something to be proud of?" Not getting an answer form either Suho just continued shaking his head in disbelieves.

“I will give you two tutoring during lunch breaks, so no more sleeping in the canteen, understand?" Not even waiting for an answer he turned around trying to catch his mother walking through the corridor, with the intention to make her switch Tao’s extracurricular.

 

“Excuse me for a moment,” Sehun said to Kai, Kyungsoo and the other boy Chen he briefly knew from Chinese class and made his way through the crowd to a completely discouraged looking Luhan.

"A smile suits your pretty face better," he said while pinching his left cheek.

"I did horrible," Luhan mumbled as if he didn't even recognize that Sehun was talking to him.

"Compared to the other students from south-high you did decent," Sehun said trying to cheer the other up.

"I failed nearly everything," the other just said staring blankly to the ground.

„But not by a lot, next time you'll pass all of those, it was really close!" No answer coming from the older so Sehun asked worryingly: "Will you get in trouble with your parents for this?"

A slight nod from Luhan and Sehun decided to hug the depressed looking Hyung telling him: "It’s gonna be ok, everybody fails sometimes when you get used to the school in a few weeks, your grades will improve, don’t worry about your parents too much."

Luhan gave him a not really reassuring nod, still looking visibly upset.

"See you at lunch break?" Sehun asked Luhan after the bell rung telling the boys they had to get to class immediately. Another half-hearted nod and another hug from Sehun, they both went their separate ways to their classes.

Sehun was usually not so touchy but after analysing Luhan’s behaviour with his friends Tao and Lay, but also Chen and Xiumin, he came to the conclusion that Luhan was just like Xiumin a touchy person, so he adapted to his needs, finding it a lot easier than expected. To be honest with himself, Sehun had a little crush on the beautiful light-hearted Chinese boy. He got drawn in by his beautiful face, and those big brown deer-like eyes, but the easy-going light-hearted conversations and his contagious smile were, what made him fall for the older boy. Hoping to not be too obvious he just tried to become friends with him, why would someone with his outstanding beauty want to date a younger boy to begin with? So Sehun just admired the other when he got a chance to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it.   
> For those who know me from AFF: Hey guys!! :*  
> See you soon  
> XOXO


	4. secrets hidden under layers of clothes

Today was the first time for Sehun to not sit with the others of his group but instead sitting with the still slightly down looking Luhan, Yixing, who looked upset but not nearly as much as his friend, also joined by an absolutely not affected Tao and Chen. He found himself befriending Chen cause while Luhan sat next to him, resting his head on his shoulder, he, his classmate and Yixing talked exclusively in Chinese to each other and even though Chen's Chinese was a lot better than his own, he gave up trying to follow the conversation and talked to Sehun instead.

Until they were interrupted by Suho who sat down at their table, dragging a not really happy looking Kyungsoo with him: "Considering your terrible exams I thought you'd all benefit from me tutoring you during break time so next exam you will finally pass some subjects."

Sehun genuinely questioned himself for having friends like Suho, Chen and Luhan exchanging annoyed looks.

"Also, TAO," he said loudly actually getting the attention of the younger boy "I made sure you’ll change extracurricular to Chinese so you can at least get some valuable points you apparently don’t get in the other subjects."

The other looked blank, then nodded unsurely but didn't answer anything. Like he always did ...

 

 

 

Suho wasn't sure what to think when Tao turned up to the discussion round extracurricular class so he decided to confront him head-on: "Why are you not going to Chinese? I made sure you can switch classes, even though it's not allowed so what are you doing here?"

No answer from the younger one, he was just looking to the ground so Suho decided to just drag the younger, taller and stronger student behind him to the room of the Chinese class. Opening the door and dragging the confused Chinese boy with him. The lesson hadn’t started yet. He could see Luhan in the front between Xiumin and Sehun, and Yixing on the window side next to Kris, Chen sitting in front of Kris and Yixing, head on the table probably sleeping.

"Suho, what brings you here?" the teacher asked. She knew him because of his mum and because he was the school council president even though he had never had a lesson with her.

"He is a new student, he is changing classes," he said gesturing to Tao.

"Oh, really, I thought that wasn't allowed anymore, but doesn’t matter, he hasn't missed much, what is his name?"

"Huang Zitao," Suho answered, not waiting to see if Tao would manage to actually open his mouth for once.

"Chinese Name?" she asked.

"He is Chinese so probably the same," Suho replied shoulder shrugging.

„真的，你来了中国吗?" (really, you are from China?) she said to Tao.

"来了青岛," (I am from Qingdao) he said smiling a little.

"好的好的， 你能坐下，陈没有邻座，你能坐他的房边(great, You can sit down, Chen doesn’t have a seat neighbour, so you can sit next to him)."

He nodded and took a seat, smiling and slightly bowing to Suho who just watched their conversation with fascination. Foreign languages were really interesting to listen to. Also, did he finally hear actual words out of Zitao’s mouth? His voice was different from what he imagined but not in a bad way.

"I'll go back to class," he said and left the room, wondering why Tao always acted so unbelievably weird.

 

 

 

The Monday morning began like every other Monday, it was sunny and hot and Kris did not appreciate sweating so he was not particularly excited for sports class in the afternoon, but his day started off with chemistry with Suho and Baekhyun. Chemistry was easy for him and Suho so their only goal there was to make Baekhyun not fail the class and that was easier said than done, for sure.

"Kris? I am going to try to tutor the some of my "favourite" newbies during lunch break so they stop destroying the school rankings do you want to help me?” Suho asked while having a look over Baekhyuns homework.

„Which one is your favourite?" Kris asked curiously.

"I said favourites not one," Suho replied, getting the saddle hint Kris was throwing out there. "Yixing needs it and I offered, also Kyungsoo need it badly and when I do those two, I might as well follow through with Chen and Luhan as well."

"That sounds like you have a mission," Kris said "a big mission."

"I do, but I might need your help… Tao has potential, I mean he got 92 in math, so with a bit of tutoring he should surely be able to pass physics," Suho explained.

"Wait what? He got 92 points in math and failed physics?" Kris said absolutely perplex.

"He got zero points in any subject other than sports, math and English", he said handing his phone with the results over to Kris, who took a look and kept staring in disbelieve.

"That’s curious…," he mumbled after a while, trying to wrap his head around things like how on earth one can get zero points in politics or arts?

"Maybe you can tutor him, he doesn’t ever say anything but when he’s speaking Chinese he crawls out of his shell a bit," Suho stated giving Baekhyun his corrected homework back, now nearly every single thing marked red.

"And when I tutor the others in math or chemistry, our lovely Baekhyun can join,” he said, poking his seat neighbour a bit. "I need it," he sighed glaring at his horrible homework.

"Don’t worry, as long as Yixing, Chen and Kyungsoo are in our grade you won't ever be the worst," Kris said jokingly making Baekhyun smile a bit.

 

Lunch break came faster than ever, after two hours of math, in which Kris watched Luhan trying to pretend he was fine while holding his stomach way too much to be fine and another two of English, where Suho had to wake Chen up twice cause he kept falling asleep in class. Suho made everybody sit at the same table during lunch, the three Chinese boys sadly inseparable in one corner, also joined by Chen, already falling asleep head on the table after barely two minutes of sitting, Sehun and Xiumin, who finally seemed to have found willing victims for his unbearable and unstoppable need to cuddle, since all three of the Chinese boys were quite touchy people, especially to each other. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were on the other side joined by Jongin and Baekhyun, Kris and Suho separating the two groups. While everybody was eating their lunch Suho was glancing over the table.

"Luhan, Kyungsoo, Chen, why no food?" he asked a bit concerned. It was important to eat regularly for mind and body.

"Not hungry," came out of their mouths nearly synchronized, making not only Suho but also Kris wonder what exactly was going on. Kris also thought he saw Kyungsoo giving Luhan a questioning and concerned look, but it happened so quickly and Kris didn't know Kyungsoo too well, he might have just imagined it.

Deciding to split the group a bit Kris turned to Tao asking: „你的父母考试结果觉得什么? (what are your parents thinking about your exam results?)"

"他们没关系, 觉得英语和数学都很好!(They don’t care, they think my English and Math grades were very good)" Kris just nodded, not understanding how his parents wouldn't mind at all.

"你最恨的课是什么?(What subject do you hate the most?)," He asked actually quite curious about the answer.

"不知道但是我不喜欢生物学，我很久没的有生物学，但是我有计算机科学,这里我们学了设计程式。这个我真的喜欢，但是这里没有那个课.(don’t know, but I really don’t like biology. I haven’t had biology for a long time, I had computer-science instead, we learned programming in my old school. I really like that, but here there’s no computer science class.)"

"你会设计程式吗?"(you know how to program?) he asked surprised.

"对啊， 你想我教你吗?(I do, do you want me to teach you?)"

"不要不要。 但是我们有计算机科学课!(No need to, but we actually have a programming class here)"

"真的，我不知道了。 如果我知道了我不选了生物学(really? I didn’t know that. If I knew I wouldn’t have chosen biology)," Tao sighed.

"如果你真的想换课我可以问Suho问他妈妈如果你可以换课(if you really want to change classes, I could ask Suho to ask his mother if you can switch classes)," Kris said reassuring and the other boy seemed to lighten up just a bit.

"请问请问请问(Please, please, please)." Kris had to smile a bit about the excitement of the younger and gave him a nod while slightly poking Suho’s arm to get his attention.

"Hm," the other mumbled while eating.

"Do you think there is any possibility Tao could swap biology class for computer science? He told me he used to have computer science and programming lessons, but because he didn't know we had these lessons here so he chose biology instead, despite not having had lessons in years." Suho frowned.

"I can ask but I can't guarantee anything."

"That already a lot, thanks," Kris answered.

"How does Tao get through life being this disorganized anyways?" Suho wondered out loud and then remembered Tao was sitting so close he definitely heard that. But he didn't react at all; ‘maybe he didn't listen,’ Suho thought to himself but wondered a bit how actually Tao got through life being the way he is.

Right after finishing his food Suho started with the tutoring of his classmates, beginning with Korean, considering all of them failed that subject. He got to understand quite quickly that despite their near-perfect spoken Korean, Luhan and Yixing struggled with reading and writing, specifically speed and specific grammar that was usually not used in spoken Korean. Chen and Kyungsoo on the other hand mostly struggled with not falling asleep. Why did it seem to be so hard for them to get enough sleep at home?

"Guys, we need to leave if we don't want to be late for sports class", Kris said, with a quick glance at his watch. Quickly they got up and went to the changing rooms. Kris being the confidence in person was running through the locker room shirtless while most everybody else at least a bit uncomfortable tried to change as quickly as humanly possible.

While running around trying to find his jersey Kris got a glance of everybody changing, whether he wanted or not. Xiumin, far from chubby, but always looking a bit softer than most people’s statue, Junmyeon, on the other hand, couldn't get any slimmer without becoming bony. Chanyeol and Baekhyun mostly slim and tender without much visible muscle mass. Chen, on the other hand, was almost concerning bony, Kyungsoo's body being in a similar position, if any more kilos would be lost on their bony bodies, one could easily call them anorexic looking.

Luhan also didn't look like he had kilos to spare, but even though his statue could be considered bony, still looking healthier than his classmates. But his weight wasn't the part that caught Kris's eye. It was the bruises, not too old but mostly yellow at this point, stretching over most of his upper body and back, some on weird parts like the ones around his armpits as if someone dragged him violently by his armpits. The only thing making Kris turn his head away from Luhan’s concerning health display other than Luhan’s unbelievably fast changing was Yixing.

The other Chinese boy wasn't concerning skinny, no he looked healthy, trained and his toned muscles complimented his slender figure. It was the scars Kris noticed. Too neatly place on his sides and thighs, there were too many of them to not revile their true origin. Kris wished he could unsee what he just noticed or like the others staying obliterate, but now he knew and that made him responsible in a way.

 

 

 

After class Kris vaguely noticed that Yixing showered in a corner, as quickly as possible hiding his body behind a giant towel, trying to not revile anything to anyone. And no one noticed cause it was so crowded and everybody needed to hurry up to not be late for extracurricular classes, so he got away with that. And so did Luhan and his weirdly placed bruises; no one paid any attention to the quickest guys in the shower but Kris. He had to have a talk with Yixing, he had to understand. Chinese class would be the best opportunity to do so, but he didn't have a clue what to say or how to go about it and classes would start in literally five minutes.

"Hurry up or you'll all be late," Luhan said, already clothed waiting in the locker room. Kris also being finished stood with him and Yixing, waiting for Xiumin and Chen to finally get dressed.

"Koreans are sooo slow," Luhan said loudly to tease them, gaining a grunt from his friends. As fast as possible they made their way through the nearly empty hallways arriving at exactly the moment the lesson started. Luhan quickly sliding on his place next to Sehun who touched the others wet hair with a look of disapproval. Kris had never seen this side of Sehun before which made him wonder, was there something between them he didn't know about? Yixing next to him was scanning through the intermediate book, it was really easy stuff. A joke for native speakers like them.

"我跟你应该说话!(I have to talk to you)," Kris whispered trying to not bother anyone else with his talking and be calm enough to not get Tao’s attention.

"什么事? (whats wrong?)," Lay asked noticing the serious tone of his voice and look in his eyes.

"这个的。多久时间?(about these. How long has this been going on?)," Kris asked while lifting Yixing’s shirt on the side just enough for him to see the cuts for a second, but nobody else to notice. The other boy went pale and looked on the table panicking.

“请不说一个人。请不说，请不说!(please don’t tell anyone, please don’t, please, please)," he said clearly panicking, his hands trembling a bit and his eyes getting watery as he continued begging. Kris pressed a finger on his lips, trying to make him shut up, making a slight gesture to Tao sitting in front of them.

„请不(please don’t)," Lay said so quietly it was barely audible his watery eyes now again looking down at the table.

„讲我为什么(Tell me why)," Kris said, trying to not reveal any emotions on his face.

"我， 我， 我(I, I, I...)," he stuttered struggling to make coherent words come out of his mouth. "我觉得孤单，郁闷，是哑巴, 我挂科，我真的该。 我，我，我。。。(I am lonely, depressed, dumb, I failed classes, I really should do this. I, I, I...)," he stuttered now actual tears forming in his eyes, which he desperately tried to wipe away before anyone could notice. Struggling to speak he gave up and buried his face in his hands. The teacher was going around while the others were doing tasks in their book when she noticed and came over.

„艺兴你不好吗? 怎么了?(Yixing, are you feeling unwell? What’s wrong?)," She asked, squatting down to look the sitting boy in the eyes.

"没事老师(Nothing)," he said unconvincingly while wiping his eyes with his shirt.

"你想出去休息一下吗? (do you want to go outside have a rest for a moment?)," she asked looking worried.

"我跟他去，好吗?(I go with him, ok?)," Kris said, slung one of his long arms around the other and pulled him up. Then as quickly and as unnoticeable as possible he left the room, but the students in the last row and for some reason Luhan noticed anyways, Luhan giving him a concerned look, motioning to also get up but Kris's perfuse head shaking prevented him to do so. Kris guided the younger to the canteen, at this time of the day completely empty, got both of them a bottle of water and sat down opposite the younger.

“So tell me, how long have you've been doing this?” Kris asked taking a sip of water. “Middle school,” Yixing answered slowly, looking at the table as if it would be the most interesting thing he had seen in a while. “Four years?” he asked, gaining a nod from Yixing.

“My freshman year was rough.” Again Yixing was wiping away tears from his eyes, profusely refusing to look anywhere but the table. Kris gripped lightly his chin, making him lift his head.

“Do your parents know?” The panic now clearly visible in Yixing’s eyes.

“Please don't tell them, please, I’ll do anything!” Kris was still holding the others chin; the tears just flowed down, a few dropping onto his hand.

“So that’s a no…,” he mumbled to himself. “Anyone? Does anybody know about this?”

“Luhan, just him.” Of course, Kris should have expected that.

“When was the last time, you...,” even Kris found himself unable to call the problem by its name.

“Friday,” the other mumbled looking away.

“Why?”

“Cause I failed all the exams, I am so dumb I couldn't even get anything right, it wasn't even close, it's embarrassing, I am an embarrassment, I, I, I just wanted to punish me for being like that,” he blurted out. Kris let his chin go and Yixing just buried it in his hands, sobbing, shaking, and looking absolutely miserable.

“So you do it to punish yourself? When you feel angry with yourself?” Kris asked after some time passed.

“Angry, with myself, sad, frustrated, or numb, it helps me you know? After I always feel better, not so muddle-headed anymore, it feels so much better after I…,” he said between hiccups and sobs, making Kris go silent for a few moments, not knowing what to do or say.

“I won’t tell,” he said finally making the other finally look up in disbelieve. “But you have to try to stop. Or do it less, or anything, at least tell me when you, maybe I can help or something, maybe…,” Kris said, he also didn't know where he was going with that, but he really didn't know what to do anymore. Yixing nodded not looking happy, but he understood.

“Give me your phone, I'll give you my number, and every time you did anything to yourself you have to tell me and if I notice a single cut that’s new and you haven't told me about, I will tell a teacher about this! Do you understand?” Another nod from Yixing, looking defeated but not so scared anymore. While Kris was busy saving his contact in Yixing’s phone he heard a familiar voice saying:

"What are you two doing here? You should be in your extracurricular classes’ right known!" It was Suho’s mother, a familiar voice for Kris, someone regularly visiting Suho’s house. But hearing her speak while being in school seemed even for him intimidating, let alone Lay. Walking over with a grim look on her face, which softened after seeing Lay wipe away tears to make facing the principal less embarrassing.

"Are you ok love?" she asked touching Yixing’s cheek lightly, making him look up instead of the ground. Another tear ran down his face and Kris understood what was happening. He either thought he would bail on him and tell the truth or would get in trouble causing him to feel even worse than before.

"Don't cry, it's ok, hey, it’s ok, it's ok," Miss Kim said while pulling the crying student into a hug. She was a good head shorter than him but wearing heels she was just tall enough for Yixing to be able to rest his head on her shoulder while crying.

"What's wrong love?" she asked stroking his back, but that only made him freeze and panic a bit more.

"That's a bit of a private matter," Kris said knowing that Miss Kim only seldom disregarded privacy.

"I know you would tell me if I should know right?" she said to Kris who nodded, knowing how caring Miss Kim was. She would always make sure everybody was well cared for.

"If I can help with anything, come to my office and tell me please," she said to Yixing while rubbing circles in his back. She knew how to comfort pupils and she knew how to handle the situation. For a brief second Kris considered telling her, he knew she would help them, but he didn't, he didn't because he wanted to keep his word to the Chinese boy, he barely even knew. Another thing on his to-do list: Get to know the new students he was now going to hang out with frequently.

When Yixing finally calmed down a bit and Miss Kim had again offered him her help whenever he needed it, she sat down with them, trying to make Yixing drink a few sips of water and now turning her attention to Kris.

"What lesson did you have now?" she asked.

"We asked for a minute during Chinese class," he said, stressing that they didn't just skip the class completely.

"I know for you skipping Chinese isn't a big deal but for," stopping for a second and asking Yixing: "What is your name love?"

"Zhang Yixing or Lay is also ok."

"But for Lay missing Chinese class might not be such a good idea," she said concerned, of course, she was the principal and the students' grades were important for her. She knew how many of the new pupils have had terrible exam results.

"He is also Chinese," Kris said with a smile.

"I understand; if that so, why don't we get your things and you'll be dismissed for today? Maybe get a drink, calm down, and get some fresh air, how about that?" the principal offered, stroking his arm reassuringly. A weak nod and Miss Kim pulled Yixing up and followed Kris to the Chinese room, one arm slung around Yixing’s waist to comfort the student.

With a brief look at Kris, she asked: "Do you want to continue the lesson or stay with Yixing?"

“I'll go back, it's fine," he replied.

"Wait here for me, I’ll get your things," she told Yixing, probably because he was still visibly unwell and one could clearly see he had cried. A hesitant nod and the principal entered the classroom, followed by Kris who went back to his place as quickly as possible.

"Yes Ma'am," the teacher said and everybody turned around.

"Lay is feeling unwell and I am sending him home, I wanted to get his things and excuse him from class," she said with a smile, while Kris gathered his seat neighbours possessions.

"He is dismissed ma'am," the teacher answered and watched as Kris handed Mrs Kim Yixing’s bag and books.

"I hope you're all studying well, goodbye," she said before going out of the door and calmly closing the door, leaving a worried looking Luhan, and a confused looking Tao.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys,  
> I hope you enjoyed reading the chapter.   
> If you want to leave a comment that would be greatly appreciated ^-^ <3  
> See you soon  
> XOXO


	5. Sleepovers and secrecies

 

On Tuesday Yixing and Luhan didn't sit with the rest of the group during lunch, Yixing ate his lunch quickly at one of the table furthest away from the others and both left quickly afterwards, maybe finding a safe place to talk. Chen, now without the comfort of Lay and Luhan held onto his sleeping habit instead of eating, and so did Kyungsoo. Tao didn't utter a single word, making everyone a bit uncomfortable. Chanyeol was nowhere to be seen the whole break. So the old group of six they used to be tried to make light of the situation planning the weekend: A sleepover at Baekhyun’s; none of the other were invited cause frankly, they weren't that close yet. Tao was busy playing with his phone and seemed so occupied that he didn't even hear what they were talking about, so Kris didn't have to feel awkward for not inviting him.

 

 

 

"Where were you yesterday at lunch break?“Baekhyun asked Chanyeol in English class. He had changed his seat to have the one next to the awkward giant, looking even smaller than usual.

"I didn't feel like food so I went on a walk,“ he said uncomfortably and Baekhyun had the suspicion there was more to that story, but he didn't have the guts to ask, cause in the end, they weren't that close yet.

 

 

 

On Thursday Xiumin noticed Chen showering in the gym, without having any reason to; he had no sports classes today. But because Chen seemed to look like he tried to remain unseen, and Xiumin didn't know him that well, he didn't confront him, but kept it for himself.

 

 

 

On Friday Luhan seemed seriously unwell. The whole week Sehun had noticed Luhan being a bit off but on Friday it got painfully obvious when he fell asleep against his shoulder at lunch break instead of getting food. He seemed to skip lunch quite a lot, but sleeping was definitely new. Sehun didn't say anything but used the opportunity to watch the older boy sleep and ruffle his hair a bit. Determined to ask Luhan what was wrong he did so during Chinese class, but got a simple, “Nothing I just didn’t sleep well,“ from Luhan. He had the weird feeling that that wasn't the whole story, but he didn't try to dig further, because they barely knew each other for two weeks, and he didn't want to make him uncomfortable with his interrogation. So he didn't say anything.

 

 

 

Saturday couldn't come early enough for Sehun who didn't really have much planned for the weekend but meeting with his friends at Baekhyun’s. His mother drove him over at noon, in her new car his dad just bought her. She was as baldly as always, asking about school and who he liked, but he didn't tell her much and she noticed. She hated it when Sehun wasn't open with her, but he didn't feel like telling her about his crush on Luhan yet, not yet. The first four hours after arriving at Baekhyun’s house Sehun, Kris and Xiumin spend swimming in the pool while not so good swimmer Suho, stayed in the shadows of the trees, Baekhyun giving company. Jongin didn't come until later, because he was visiting his grandmother. He arrived after dinner, at around 8 pm when everybody was already mentally preparing for their traditional game round and Baekhyun preparing the beds for everyone. Having three guest rooms definitely helped with that. Their most played game, other than cards against humanity, was a game, much like truth or dare, where everybody had to prepare a question and a task on a sheet of paper, toss those in a bowl and then one by one pick a paper. But the best thing about the game was that not only were the questions and tasks anonymous, and therefore even more brutal, but also was there the possibility to end up with the task one had put in there before.

"You go first Jongin,“ Baekhyun ordered after they all sat comfortably on Baekhyun’s giant king-sized bed. Eye rolling he picked a paper.

"Pick your favourite person in the room, let him lay down on his back, place yourself over him and make 10 push-ups, your lips have to touch his face every time“Jongin read and sighed.

"Sehun, come over,“ he commanded and finishing the task while Sehun laughed the whole time uncomfortably at the raunchy comments coming from Baekhyun and Xiumin. Sehun was the next to fish a paper out of the bowl.

"Name a person you have some kind of feelings for, that person has to be invited to next week’s sleepover,“ he read than hiding his face behind Jongin's back.

"Why me?“ he asked pretending to suffer more than he actually did.

"Next time we're at mine so don’t pick any bad boys,“ Xiumin said jokingly. Sehun rolled his eyes, hid his face behind his hands and mumbled too quietly for anyone to be able to understand: "Luhan“

"Louder please,“ Suho requested, lying on his stomach head propped up with his hands and smiling mischievously.

"Luhan,“ he repeated louder, gaining laughter form most of his friends.

"Aw, Maknae is in love,“ Suho said teasingly while making a heart with his hands.

"Shut up,“ Sehun replied but Xiumin and Baekhyun already started doing the same making Sehun regret being honest.

"It’s your turn,“ mumbled Sehun desperately trying to somehow shift the attention in a new direction. Xiumin pulled a paper.

"Have you ever fingered yourself", he read and answered: "No but someone else did,“ making Sehun and Junmyeon flush with the embarrassment of now knowing things they didn’t really want to know, but earning a laughter from Kris and Baekhyun.

"Tell us a secret,“ Kris read, looking a bit weirded out then making his slightly grumpy looking face that indicated he was thinking. "Lay cried about his exam results,“ he then answered.

"Really? I thought he didn't care at all,“ Jongin said, getting backing from Junmyeon with: "He barely looked like he even looked at the results!“

"He’s actually quite sensitive, he cares more than you think,“ Kris simply replied, trying to drop the topic.

"Well then… it’s your turn Suho,“ Xiumin said cheerfully.

"Pick a person and try to carry them bridal style up the stairs,“ he read.

"Fuck your life,“ Xiumin laughed, looking at Baekhyun. He was the tiniest so he would have to be the bride. Suho made it up the stairs, but he looked like giving birth while doing it, sending Xiumin to the ground in laughter. Baekhyun also picked a dare, having to stuff as many marshmallows into his mouth as possible, nearly choking to death because they melted into a big tennis ball sized mush he needed 5 tries to successfully spit out. And the whole degrading thing was captured by Jongin on his iPhone. The second round would therefore probably have two dares and four questions.

„Rank the new guys in order of fuckability,“ Jongin read. Xiumin wiggled his eyebrows.

"Luhan first, cause he is objectively beautiful, but Kyungsoo is kinda my type so he’s second; oh wait Tao is second I've seen him shirtless in the locker room and there’s nothing else to say, so Soo is third. I don't know, maybe Yixing, Chen, Chanyeol last cause he’s definitely not my type,“ Jongin said casually.

"You got competition Maknae,“ Xiumin stated while wiggling his eyebrows again.

"No, he doesn't, I wouldn't touch my mate's man even if he threw himself at me,“ Jongin proclaimed getting an honest smile from Sehun. Good to know that he had such a friend with Kai.

"Lick someone's face,“ Sehun read out loud sighing and turning to Xiumin saying: "Sorry mate but you're my victim,“ while quickly licking the others cheek, making the ticklish Hyung lough and then wipe his face.“Xiumin gripped and pulled a paper out of the nearly empty bowl.

"Would you date someone another person in this room likes, even if you like them too and they like you back.“A moment of silence then: "If they like me and I do them, maybe, if I like them but they have no feelings for me yet, no.“Sehun made a note to memory make sure Luhan cuddled more with him and less with Xiumin.

"Have you ever made someone cry in pain during sex?“Kris read, facepalming himself. "Why? Just why would someone ask that“ he said head shaking.

"Yes or now Kris,“ Baekhyun asked, smiling mischievously.

"I have,“ Kris answered, trying to drop the topic, but his friends wouldn't let it go.

"Girl or boy?“ Jongin asked curiously. Getting an annoyed look from Kris. "Come on, we all know you fucked some girls before you eventually came around to admitting to yourself you like guys more,“ Jongin said laughing.

"I am bi-sexual, there is no liking girls or boys more, I like who I like, regardless of gender,“ Kris answered annoyed with his friends always pretending he was only bi cause he couldn’t admit to himself he was gay and that was simply not true!

"Answer the question, girl or boy?“Xiumin asked wiggling his eyebrows.

"Boy,“ Kris said and continued, knowing his friends wouldn't let it go without getting at least some details: "It was my first time with a guy and I honestly didn't prep him enough. My fault, I learned from my mistake, hasn’t happened since.“

"I thought girls would cry more,“ Suho commented in all honesty.

"Let me tell you some information you will never need in your life Suho, girls private parts are made to be penetrated, so they are more adaptable, they lubricate themselves, even though especially with someone new and uncomfortable partners a little bit of lube is a good idea, but in general, as long as a girl is aroused, it’s not painful, barely any additional prepping needed. Guys on the other hand… not so much…,“ Kris explained to his obliterate friend.

"Oh, I get it now. I actually understand! You should teach sex ED Kris, you slay,“ Xiumin said resting his head on Kris's shoulder.

"But since we're on the topic, how about you'll?" Kris asked raising an eyebrow, now making his friends feel just as uncomfortable as he did minutes ago.

"I did,“ came it defeated from Sehun, Jongin nodding in agreement.

"Not actually tears, but he looked like he was in a lot of pain… but no tears,“ Suho said trying to hide his blushing face in the mattress.

"So we all suck at this!“Sehun stated laughing at the others. "But more importantly, did you guys ever cry doing it?“ Sehun asked, imitating Xiumin‘s eyebrow wiggling. Baekhyun looked like he wanted to die right then and there.

"Nope, if someone doesn’t prepare me well I won't let him. Because I'm a bitch that knows what he wants,” Xiumin said confidently while adding: "And my first one was really good so I'm a bit spoiled too.“

"Where do you get that confidence from and can I have some of that?“Baekhyun asked trying to hide his face behind his arms.

"What about you Baekhyun?“ Xiumin questioned, wiggling his eyebrows and smiling mischievously.

"I cried; more than once, both guys,“ he replied and buried his face in the mattress, embarrassed and blushing.

"Dang, your exes didn't know what they were doing", Xiumin said and then wiggling his eyebrows while adding: "I can give you the number of some of my exes. Not your standard look-wise, but they know how to please a man.“Baekhyun just screamed in the mattress in embarrassment.

"Or Kris seems to know what he’s doing, so maybe he'll help you out,“ Xiumin teased making Baekhyun put his hands over his ears and hum some weird melody.

"I think it’s Suho’s turn to pick,“ Kris said trying to help his friend out.

"Yea pick one!“Xiumin shouted excited and watched his friend pick one of the two remaining sheets.

"Have you ever heard your parents having sex,“ he read. "No, our rooms are not on the same floor so no trauma yet,“ he answered, handing the last sheet to Baekhyun.

"Which one of the newbies is most like your type? Who is least like your type?“ he read blushing. "I like Luhan looks-wise, he is really handsome, but I am quite sure he’s bottom so we're not compatible,“ he said.

„You think he's bottom? I think he might be a verse,“ Xiumin said shoulder shrugging. „Well, we can ask next sleepover,“ he added wiggling his eyebrows making Sehun flush. He was so uncomfortable with Luhan taking part in any of these activities.

"Well, but I also like Chanyeol a bit, he has a great personality and he is tall, I like that. I think Kyungsoo is the least like my type.“

"I think Luhan is everybody’s type, you should be careful Sehun,“ Suho joked making Sehun glare at him.

„I’ll help you stand your ground next week!“Jongin proclaimed laying a comforting arm around his classmate.

„So Xiumin, Baekhyun, you, how about you Kris and Suho, would you like some piece of Luhan too,“ Sehun asked his friends, fearful for the answer.

"Our personalities are not compatible,“ Suho said diplomatically while Kris replied: "He’s easily approachable, funny, easy going and of course he is objectively beautiful, so you can't expect to have no competition Sehun, but I'm not touching my friends man so don 't worry about me.“And with that, the topic was dropped and cards against humanity was started.

 

 

 

Luhan sat between Chen and Kyungsoo during Biology, having changed his seat to sit with them last week. Chanyeol sat next to Kyungsoo at the end of the row, staring in the air. Kyungsoo said he had a rough weekend and Luhan didn't ask any questions.

"Are you good?“ Kyungsoo asked with worry in his voice, using one finger to paint the outline of his collarbone.

"I wish I had some to spare for you, but I don't have any either,“ the raven-haired boy said, hugging Luhan from the side.

"Don’t worry,“ Luhan replied, not even convincing himself.

„I don't have any either,“ Chen said leaning on Luhan’s shoulder. "Maybe you can steal some from the tall one with the colourful hair, Sehun right?“Chen half-heartedly suggested, knowing himself that he wouldn't do it either in Luhan’s place.

"Yixing?“ Kyungsoo asked quietly making sure Chanyeol didn't hear any of their conversation, he didn't know and he shouldn't.

"Don’t know, I'm not that desperate,“ Luhan said, then adding quietly: "Yet."

 

 

 

Suho was in a bad mood during lunch break, because Kyungsoo, Luhan and Chen all nearly fell asleep while he tried to tutor them in Korean. Not being able to learn anything in that condition, Suho began scolding them.

"This is the reason you are all failing classes because you stay up all night instead of getting enough sleep then falling asleep in school! What important matter do you have at night to stay up this long? Playing games isn’t as important as your education!“ he said literally throwing his pen on the table in front of them. Making Tao flinch and everybody not involved with the tutoring session look at him.

"Also eat some fucking food, it's healthy and your dieting habits are horrible!“ with that said, Suho stood up took his chair taking a seat furthest away from the three. All of them decided to just rest their heads on their books and nap for a moment instead of arguing, there was simply no energy left to argue.

They were woken up by a still pissed Suho shaking them saying: "You will be late if you don't wake up now!“

Running behind him through the corridors without saying a word, then changing as quickly as possible. Luhan was not excited about sports; they were doing track and field, outside in the warm weather. He wanted to skip but this was only his second lesson because he missed the first one and having Suho around gave him no opportunity to go hide somewhere. And he surely didn't need any additional problems to the ones he had after bringing his horrendous exam results home. He vaguely noticed Kris glancing at him with an angry looking face, but Luhan was generally not that great with telling Kris’s emotions so he might have misinterpreted. The two kilometres running, in the beginning, were Luhan’s worst nightmare. It was hot, the sun was burning on his pale skin and he felt like his body didn't want to move, his legs feeling heavy and weak. During stretching time Suho occupied Yixing, probably to annoy Luhan so he had Kyungsoo as a partner.

After stretching they were supposed to run three kilometres as fast as possible while the teacher took their time. They started in different groups so the field would be less crowded. Luhan chose to not be in group 1, so he sat at the side-lines watching Chen, Xiumin and Kyungsoo struggle. All of them were not that great at sports, falling behind the rest of the group quite quickly. Suho sat down right next to Luhan, staring at the older with a blank face.

"You’re also in group three right?“ he asked, getting a nod from the Chinese boy. Yixing, Baekhyun and Chanyeol were all group 2 whereas he had to run with Kris and Suho. Great team when having a bad day! Sighing Luhan turned to face Suho.

"I'm sorry for not listening earlier, that was rude and I shouldn't have done it,“ he said sincerely. He would have been glad for their help were it not for the terrible pain in his stomach.

Suho said nothing for a moment, then uttering: "It's ok.“Luhan didn't believe his answer one bit, the other was still mad.

"I'm really sorry, I mean it,“ he said again, but Suho just replied: "I said it's fine,“ in an annoyed tone.

“But I don't believe you,“ Luhan replied adding: "Let it out, I can take it.”

A few seconds of silence till Suho began to rant: "I don't get you, I really don't, your actions make no sense to me and I don’t know why you act like that. You're now a part of my friend group so I want to like you but nothing you do is likeable. You show no interest, have behaviour problems, you show no gratitude for me trying to help; you don’t even seem to take care of yourself. You clearly don't like the school and apparently put your private life before school and then spend the lessons sleeping, but I am trying to like you cause all my friends seem to do so, but all I’m seeing is an un-honest person.“

"Why do you think I am un-honest?“ he asked, knowing he was, but trying to find out what exactly he was doing wrong.

"What happened last time you skipped class. Why were you suddenly sick? That makes no sense and I think you just skipped class and tried to get away with it,“ he said and Luhan nodded. "And what I hate the most about you is that you pull your friends and mine into your problems, making them help you get away with it!“Luhan nodded, the feeling of guilt spreading through his body, making him feel dizzy.

"I got issues, I know but I am trying not to pull anyone down with me, but that thing on my first day, I, I, I wasn't faking anything to get out of class, please believe me,“ he said honestly, while watching Chen, Xiumin and Kyungsoo passing the finish line, dead last. One more group till he had to run himself.

"Tell me what happened,“ Suho demanded, making Luhan look to the ground.

"Will you forgive me for today if I tell you the truth?“ he asked not looking up.

"Yeah,“ the other replied and the Chinese boy took a deep breath.

"And promise you won't tell anyone,“ he urged.

"I won't“

"Not your mum, not any teacher, not Sehun, no one,“ Luhan insisted.

"I know the definition of nobody,“ Suho uttered annoyed.

„After you got me in trouble for swearing I had to go to the principal and she said she would call my father, I got scared, my father is very strict you know and I was afraid to face him after knowing the principal would call because of swearing. I was afraid of punishment and cause it was day one and I already made a bad impression and I kind of lost it in the bathroom,“ now stumbling upon his words, still not looking up. He wouldn't cry, at least that’s what he hoped for. But he felt the adrenaline of fear running through his veins.

"Did you get in trouble for your exams?“ Suho asked, seemingly concerned.

"Of course.“

"You should, they were terrible,“ Suho replied.

„I know,“ Luhan said weakly. He did deserve it, but hearing it out of Suho's mouth didn't make it better. What he didn't expect was Suho hugging him from the side, pulling him close for a few seconds.

"I'm sorry, I don't know your situation, but if you have to fear what your parents will say, I am sorry for that.“‘I wish it would be the words I feared,’ Luhan added in his head.

"We should get prepared, only a few minutes left till it’s our turn,“ the Korean said giving Luhan a hand to help him up.

Getting up so quickly turned out to be a bad idea, making his head spin and see stars. Trying to not just stumble back to the ground he gripped the first thing he could get, holding onto whatever it was for a few seconds before his vision turned clear again. This, however, turned out to be Suho’s shoulder and the other looking irritated up to the slightly taller boy.

"Sorry,“ he mumbled straightening up and letting go of his shoulder.

"Are you ok?“ Suho asked in the most honest and concerned tone Luhan heard him use so far.

"I'm not feeling great, nothing to worry about,“ he said trying to not make the other suspicious.

"Its cause you didn't eat lunch,“ Suho argued angrily.

„I didn't eat because I can't stomach anything right now. Probably a virus or something. Nothing big, we should get going the others are nearly finished!“Luhan said hurrying to the starting line, already feeling dizzy again. 3 kilometres, he could do this! But he felt so dizzy. They started, Luhan already falling behind; he usually was a great runner but not today, not in this condition. The fields’ rounds were exactly 400m so they had to run 7 and a half rounds. After the second he saw the first person passing him already a full 400m in front of him; It was embarrassing, but he kept pushing seeing Kris eyeing him while passing him too.

Round 6 was by far the worst, he was just pushing through, not having a clear vision anymore, he stumbled a bit but kept running. 15:45 was his final time after sprinting the last 300m causing him to nearly completely black out. He apparently still outran Chen, Xiumin and Kyungsoo of group 1 but otherwise, he did terribly. Sinking down onto the grass, letting his body finally rest. He couldn't see anything but black, having his eyes open. But his vision cleared after a few seconds of complete darkness.

"你好吗?"(are you ok?) he heard Yixing ask, with blurry vision seeing his friend squatting down next to him.

"没事,“ (it’s nothing) he answered getting up again to pretend to Yixing he was fine. He didn't want his friend to worry about him, already having so much on his mind. Kris giving him a weird look, but he pulled it off; at least Yixing didn't realize what was wrong.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked the chapter. If you did, leave a comment ^-^  
> See you soon  
> XOXO


	6. Snitches are bitches

"You lost weight," Sehun said during Chinese class, just like Kyungsoo earlier he gently ran his long fingers over his visible collarbone while Luhan leaned comfortably against his shoulder.

"Have you been sick?" he asked, clearly trying to make sense of so sudden drastic weight loss.

"I can't stomach anything really, probably a stomach virus or something," he said, sticking to the story he told Suho earlier.

"You shouldn't be in school; you're sick, have a rest!" Sehun mumbled.

"My grades are already too low, I can't miss any classes. And nobody’s home to care for me anyway," he said. Both were true. Completely true. Sehun looked sad for some reason, making Luhan snuggle even more into Sehun’s side.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," he stressed.

"Have you've been to the doctor?" the younger asked placing a hand on Luhan’s forehead, brushing his banks away and feeling his temperature.

"Haven’t yet," he said in all honesty, this was nothing he had to go to the doctor with, Luhan knew why he was feeling miserable, he just couldn’t do anything about it. Sehun looked displeased when removing his hand from the older guys’ forehead and fixing his bangs.

"Don’t worry, I'll be fine," the older said again.

Everything in Sehun’s concerned look made Luhan uncomfortable. Not the usual ‘I got caught’ uncomfortable, or the ‘I will get in trouble for this’ uncomfortable, but a different kind, making his heartache and his hands twitching to touch his face to caress and make the worry go away. It was this feeling he sometimes had with Yixing when he again didn't tell him everything to protect his innocent breakable soul from the shit-show of Luhan’s existence. But Sehun wasn't that close to him was he? Then the realization hit Luhan like a brick thrown through a window. He wasn’t that close to Sehun, but he wanted to be. To have a stable shoulder to lay his head against when feeling down, not to worry about how the burden of his life might crush his fragile soul. He wanted Sehun to be that person. But he shouldn't want that; shouldn’t burden anyone with his problems. But still, he could rest his head against his shoulders while pretending he understood. Maybe one day he would be able to tell him the whole story when they knew each other a bit more, but now wasn’t the right time.

 

 

 

Physics class was definitely not one of Baekhyun’s favourite classes, but the teacher was quite relaxed and there was seldom homework to do so nothing about this class justified the bad mood his favourite awkward giant had coming into class today. Even though Baekhyun knew it wasn't really his place to ask, being that he didn't really know that much about him, he decided to dig anyways, cause what harm could it do to ask a few questions.

"Why that face?" he wanted to know straight after his new friend sat down next to him.

"Bad week," the other mumbled putting his books on the table.

"I'm not asking for gory details, but could you elaborate please," Baekhyun said, in the same manner, their physics teacher always worded things, trying to cheer his friend up.

„Honestly, I kind of need to pay attention in class to not fail, so maybe later ok?" Chanyeol said looking at the shorter one with puppy eyes.

"Later as in lunch break, later in history class or later in cooking?" Baekhyun asked. The extracurricular activity classes on Tuesday and Thursdays were a lot more relaxed and there were no real examinations for the classes, Chanyeol and Baekhyun being in cooking class together was always fun, since there was more than enough time to have a chat in class.

 "Cooking? I'd rather not tell when the others are all listening with one ear," he said.

"Ok," Baekhyun answered, giving the taller boy a side hug, thinking he might need the affection.

 

 

 

Today Kyungsoo, Chen and Luhan at least tried to listen to Suho while he was tutoring them in Korean. Also joining was Yixing, who, other than his classmates seemed somewhat eager to learn. He was the one asking questions and after half an hour of the others trying their best to focus and not fall asleep Suho dismissed them and instead spend the rest of the time answering Yixings question in great detail. While he was doing that Luhan sat down next to Sehun again, resting his head against his shoulder and closing his eyes.

"Do you want some?" Sehun asked Luhan holding up his coffee cup.

"I'm not much of a coffee person," the other answered, barely opening his eyes to see what Sehun was even talking about.

"Want me to get you something else?" he asked.

"No, stop moving I'm trying to sleep," he just answered, closing his eyes again and falling asleep just moments later.

"I just wanted to get him something," Sehun mumbled a bit disheartened, getting a smile from Kyungsoo. That's when Sehun realized that Xiumin was taking pictures of Luhan sleeping against his shoulder. He wasn't even sure if he was angry or not considering, that he kind of wanted one of those pictures to remember the moment at a different time. Baekhyun proceeded to make hearts with his hands and pretend to melt because of all the cuteness. He just rolled his eyes unbelievably glad Luhan couldn't see any of this.

Kai sitting next to him whispered: "Have you asked Luhan about Saturday yet?" He shook his head.

"Don't forget to ask," he mumbled giving his friend a soft playful poke with his elbow. He would do it tomorrow, either at lunch break or at Chinese class. Ruffling Luhan’s hair a bit he leaned his head against the sleeping older, making Baekhyun sequel and triggered Xiumin into taking another picture.

 

 

 

"Why do you never comb your hair? It's messy!" Xiumin said during health class, that for the first time Jongdae wasn't sleeping through. He searched a minute in his bag, pulling out a comb and handing it to the younger one.

"Why am I sitting with you again?" he asked himself quietly getting a "cause you have no choice," from his Hyung. However, he still proceeded to comb his messy curls. Xiumin had noticed that the younger always looked a bit messy and, for the lack of a better word, homeless looking. He didn't know a single thing about Chen's private life but his parents didn't do a great job looking after him, clearly. If he would want to go out in dirty clothes, old and sometimes ripped, with unwashed hair and not even combed, his parents wouldn't even let him!

"How do your parents even let you go out like this," he asked fixing the other's hair a bit more.

"They don't care," he simply answered giving Xiumin his comb back. Xiumin made a noise of disapproval, then poked the younger one in the rib cage, way too visible for his taste.

"And eat some more, you're too bony!"

"Stop nagging Hyung!" Chen said eye-rolling.

"Wanna grab some bubble tea later? You can need the calories," Xiumin said smiling brightly.

Chen let out a deep breath, sound of resignation in his voice when he answered: "To be honest Hyung, I can't afford to spend money on things like bubble tea, I already don't have that much even if I just spend it on the necessaries." A brief look of confusion, then realization and after a look of understanding flashed through the elders face.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have...," he began, then taking a deep breath and saying: "Sorry."

Chen just shrugged his shoulders giving Xiumin a half-hearted smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. A moment of silence between them, when the older awkwardly asked: "But would you want bubble tea anyways? I'll invite you." The other looked at him the surprise written all over his face.

"No big deal, my parents give me a huge allowance, I'm kinda spoiled I guess," Xiumin mumbled looking at the table, realizing how the SM-high students must look like to their financially struggling classmates. No wonder the south-high kids kept to themselves and stuck together.

"I'd love to get some bubble tea with you Hyung," the other said, this time his smile reached his eyes. Xiumin immediately lightening up and smiling brightly.

"Meet after extracurricular classes outside?" he asked getting a nod from Chen, continuing to dumbly smile throughout the rest of health class.

 

 

 

Kimchi-rice is generally not that hard to prepare and Chanyeol finished the preparation he had to do before the actual cooking in record time. Suho and Baekhyun, on the other hand, were struggling quite a bit. Helping his friend out a bit he joined them in cutting vegetables, apparently, rich kids never helped out in the kitchen because even that wasn't as easy for them as it should be.

"You told me you were gonna tell me about your weekend," Baekhyun said, looking up from his cutting board. "So what was so bad about it?" The other sighed, took a deep breath and looked into the emptiness not really focusing on anything.

"My parents are breaking up and I and my siblings are getting caught in the crossfire," he said a sad tone in his voice.

"Oh, that's ugly," Suho said flinching a bit.

"My parents always tell me about those ugly divorces, I'm so sorry your parents are separating," Baekhyun said and hugged Chanyeol who still hadn't moved, standing at the cutting board with a knife in his hand. Just when the shorter one hugged him he flinched a bit, than dropped the knife in horror realizing how close his knife and Baekhyun’s arm had been a moment before.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said, scanning the other's arm but he just said: "Don't worry, no harm done."

They stood there for a while, Baekhyun hugging the tall guy while he looked to the ground, caught in his own thoughts. But realizing they still had to finish the cooking they separated eventually, giving Suho the opportunity to give Chanyeol a reassuring side hug and whispering so only he could hear: "You know you can always come to me when you have any problems, you know right?" Looking directly into the chocolate eyes of the other Chanyeol gave him a nod and a half-smile.

"Thanks," he mumbled and continued the cooking. A while later, Chanyeol was waiting on his Kimchi to finish cooking Suho sat down next to him, handing him a piece of paper.

"My numbers, if you ever need help, just call," he said reassuringly, stood up and left to monitor his own cooking again.

 

 

 

The sports extracurricular class was as usual mainly occupied with guys playing soccer, but because of the big size of the class, it was barely noticeable that some students didn't participate but sat at the sidelines instead. Luhan sat next to Tao, head resting on the youngers shoulder, Chen resting his head on Tao’s other shoulder, Kyungsoo sitting in the grass on Luhan’s other side. The two Chinese boys were talking in quiet but fast Chinese while the two Koreans were mostly silent, watching the other boys play.

Kris decided to join the group. Soccer wasn't really his thing, being more of a basketball person.

“你们都讲什么话题吗?"(what are you guys talking about?) he asked the fellow Chinese boys.

"你觉得Suho最恨我还是鹿晗?" (do you think Suho hates me or Luhan the most?) Tao asked Kris without a glimpse of a joke.

"他不恨你们!"(he doesn't hate the two of you) Kris insisted, getting a weak laugh from Luhan.

"他自己跟我说他不喜欢我，所以你错了," (he told me himself he doesn't like me, so your wrong) Luhan replied.

"他不恨你们，他觉得你们太诡秘了，但是他不恨你们。去跟他讲话，他是很友好的人!" (he doesn't hate you; he thinks you’re too secretive, but he doesn’t hate you. Go talk to him, he is actually a very friendly person!) Kris said, trying to help his friend out, but both boys didn't seem too keen to believe him. So he eventually dropped the topic, trying not to get into an argument, but having the intention in his mind to tell Suho what the others thought of him, not only because they were now in the same friend group, but also because as one of the few prefect students, he was the one students were supposed to go to when they had troubles, problems or anything they didn't want to go to the teachers with and two problematic students thinking Suho hated them wasn't the best situation to be in.

"编程课怎么样?" (how's computer science class?) Kris asked Tao, getting a confused look from the younger.

"没有编程课," (I don't have computer-science class) he said confused by the question.

"Suho让你换课. 他不讲你吗?" (Suho made you change class, did he not tell you?) Kris told the other who just looked surprised.

"我不知道了，下次我去编程课反而生物学," (I didn't know, next time I'll go to programming class instead of biology) he said smiling like a child on Christmas, making Kris smile also, even though he was wondering how Suho could forget to tell Tao after he put so much effort into making it possible for the younger to be able to switch classes. It seemed more than just strange to him...

 

 

 

"So, tell me a bit about yourself? I barely know you!" Xiumin said a large bubble tea in his hand. They were sitting in a corner of a small bubble tea shop, sipping the drinks Xiumin had bought them.

"What do you want to know?" Chen asked taking a sip of his drink.

"How about, what do your parents do for a living? Do you have siblings?"

"Electrician, kindergarten teacher and no, I'm an only child, how about you?"

"Doctor, Psychiatrist, and also no, but my parents would have wanted more kids," the older answered.

A bit of silence then Xiumin asked: "How do you know the others?"

"I don't know them that well either, I'm a bit of a loner, but we were in the same classes most of the time and our classes were a lot closer than the ones here. We'd know each other a lot better and stuff. Tao, I don't know that well. He came to our school about half a year ago, first in the middle school, then the few weeks before the merge... I'm quite sure he was in the language program and after all, he's a year younger than us. I don't think Luhan and Yixing knew him before we started here, but the few Chinese boys always stick together, so that's normal," Chen said, looking Xiumin in the eyes: "How about you?"

"My mother is quite close to Sehun’s mother, cause they work in the same field. And Sehun’s parents are quite close to Baekhyun’s, so we know each other from childhood. Suho and I met in the first class of middle school. A taller boy bullied me for looking fat and Suho stood up for me. Kris came into our class the same year in middle school. Jongin and Sehun were in the same class in middle school, so he was the last to join the group," Xiumin explained.

"Tell me more about your friends," Chen suggested, but Xiumin had other plans.

"How about this, I tell you one thing about my friends, one each, and you tell me one about yours."

"I told you I don't know them that well either," he stresses getting an eye roll from Xiumin.

"I know you know some things I don't, you're all so secretive. I know you know some secrets!" the older said, glaring at the other.

"Snitches are bitches that end up in ditches," said Jongdae and looked at Xiumin seriously. "We in south high don't snitch on others. Their secrets are theirs to tell and no one else’s!" he stressed, barely any emotion showing in his face. His gaze became so strong Xiumin had to avert his own.

„I didn't mean it like that I just wanted to get to know some things about them. Just fun facts I didn't know or something...," he really didn't mean to ask the other to spill their deepest secrets. He really didn't.

"It's ok Hyung," Chen answered after a while. "You go first." The older looked up from the table, looking at the younger insecure, while he just sipped on his bubble tea.

"Start with Kai, I literally don't think I've ever talked to him," Chen said smirking a bit.

"Sure, ahem Jongin, he is quite a good dancer, he and Sehun have dancing classes together. Me too, we practice together", he said, stumbling over his own words.

"I knew you had extracurricular dancing but I didn't know you were good," Chen said, motioning the other to continue.

"Kris's family used to live in Canada before they came to Korea. Baekhyun is a good singer, Suho always wants to help everybody, he is even considering becoming a social worker or possibly a psychiatrist. Sehun’s hair was an accident but he liked it so he keeps it."

"What about you?" Chen asked.

"I used to be really fat!" he spilt making Chen laugh.

"Now it’s your turn," he decided, looking more excited than he planned to.

"Hm, like I said, I know nothing about Tao, but the others... Well, Yixing once got in trouble for accidentally eating a hash brownie in school, Luhan was drugged at a party once, Chanyeol fell down the stairs on his first day of middle school, fell into the principal and made him fall also, and Kyungsoo… he dated the biggest school douchebag in middle school for about two years."

"And you?"

"I don't have a phone," Chen simply stated.

"Why?" asked the confused Xiumin.

"No money," he just shrugged, making Xiumin reflect for a moment. Not even having money for a phone was unthinkable for him. He really didn't get the new students. They all didn't!

 

 

 

Xiumin and Chen sat together during this lunch break, in deep conversations, barely looking up to greet the others. Kris wondered when they became so close but just shrugged the thought off. Why did he even care? He sat down next to Chen, preserving a seat for Tao since he was planning to give him some physics tutoring. He wanted to do so last week, but kinda never did, so now seemed to be a good time to start. That's when he noticed. Squatting down a bit, putting his hand reassuringly on the other's shoulder, feeling a lot bonier than it should, he asked: "Are you ok?"

Luhan barely opened his eyes, those looking watery and tired, his head resting on the table, arms hanging down. Kris noticed that he seemed to have lost a noticeable amount of weight, his face paler than before. A very calm noise came from Luhan, acknowledging the other was talking to him. He brushed the older’s bangs beside and felt his temperature. Nothing out of the ordinary.

"Hey Kris", Suho greeted placing the food he just bought onto the table.

"Hey Luhan," he said a bit louder, looking a bit annoyed with the other not greeting him. His eyes glazed up and down the other till Kris noticed his expression changing.

"Are you alright?" he asked leaving his food, leaning down and wrapping an arm around Luhan’s shoulder. Another barely noticeable groan, but this time no effort to lift his head or open his eyes.

"We'll bring you to the nurses' office," Suho said, wrapping his arm around Luhan’s waist trying to pull him up.

"No need to...," he mumbled but Suho wasn't having any of it.

"We will go to the nurses' office NOW, you look miserable and you will not stay in the canteen in this condition. You can either come or we will make you!" Suho insisted pulling Luhan up, Kris supporting the fellow Chinese student on the other side. They got a concerned look from Xiumin, Chen sitting with his back to them, while they dragged Luhan out of the canteen. Just outside in the hallway, they ran into Sehun, Jongin and Tao, probably coming from their last class before lunch-break.

"What’s wrong with him?" Sehun asked, walking next to Suho, looking at Luhan.

"He's not feeling well and we're bringing him to the nurse," Suho said. "Could you get his bag from the canteen and bring it to the nurses' office? I forgot about that. It's at the table Xiumin and Chen are sitting at ok?" Suho added, trying to make the other do something other than panicking. He was clearly worried and so was Suho, but him panicking would not do anything to help the situation.

Dragging Luhan to the nurse turned out to be quite hard, two sets of stairs and three corridors later, they were in front of the office, Suho feeling exhausted, wishing he'd asked Sehun to get Luhan to the nurse.

"What's wrong with you love?" Mrs Park asked immediately, placing the skinny Chinese boy on one of the beds, feeling his temperature, pulse and then his blood pressure.

"Your blood pressure is way too low, no wonder you're feeling sick!" she explained, placing the tool to measuring blood pressure on the little table.

"Did he black out?" she asked Suho.

"He didn't look fine but I don't think so," he answered. Meanwhile, Mrs Park got a glass of something looking like water and placed it on the bedside table.

„Just in case your blood sugar is also low, this is mainly sugar, vitamins and water. I want you to drink it then you can have a rest," she instructed handing Luhan the glass. As instructed he finished the water, then was pushed to lie down while Mrs Park monitored him with a frown on her face. That's when Sehun, Tao and Lay entered the room, all looking confused and worried.

"You got a lot of friends, young man," Mrs Park said, sitting down at her little table while Sehun placed Luhan’s bag next to the bed. Very vaguely did Suho noticed the nurse calling his mother. He watched his friends talking with Luhan, mainly Yixing and Tao, Kris and Sehun barely able to say anything without interrupting the waterfall of words coming out of Tao’s mouth. Who knew he could be this talkative? In Chinese of course...

Not a long time after the office door opened again, coming in Suhos mother. He decided to leave his friends and join the quiet conversation his mum had with the nurse.

"What's wrong mum?" he asked.

"Hey Junmyeun, everything alright?" she replied, placing an arm around him and pulling him closer next to her. He just nodded, making her continue her conversation with Mrs Park.

"I could not reach any family member so he has to stay till he is able to leave on his own."

"To be honest I don't think that will be anytime soon. Does he have distant family or neighbours which could pick him up?" Mrs Park asked.

"Not that I know of, his distant family seems to live in China," Mrs Kim said glancing over to Luhan lying in the bed.

"Do you think it would be possible for one of his friends to company him?" the nurse asked.

"Do you know who's close with him Junmyeun?" she asked, Suho gesturing to the Chinese boys.

"Yixing and Tao I think are closest to him. Otherwise Sehun." Mrs Kim scanning the guys her son mentioned remembered Lay from their last encounter in the canteen.

"Lay, can you come for a moment?" she said smiling. A bit irritated the other came over, looking not sure what she wanted from him.

"Do you think your parents could come and get Luhan home? I cannot get a hold on his guardians," she asked. "Suho told me you are close friends with him." He looked unsure.

"My parents are at work and so are his I guess," he answered while playing with his hands. "I can ask Tao," he said, turning around and talking in fast Chinese. "韬，金老师问你的父母现在空吗? 因为鹿晗的父母不在，别人得送他家。我的父母都在工作，你觉得你的可以送鹿晗家吗? (Miss Kim asked if your parents are free at the moment, cause Luhan’s parents aren’t home and somebody else has to bring him home. My parents are at work, do you think yours can bring Luhan home?)"

"可以，妈妈正常空， 我给她发短信,"(I think so, my mum is usually free, I’ll send her a text) he answered, getting on his phone.

"Tao’s parents will get him," Yixing explained, getting a smile from the principal.

"Tao, since your parents will pick your friend up, I will dismiss you from your next lessons. What subjects do you have now?" Mrs Kim asked, followed by an uncomfortable moment of silence. Suho frowned. Why could Tao not simply ever answer a question?

"We have math and then Chinese in the extra classes. He's good at math, that shouldn't be a problem," Sehun explained, visibly uncomfortable with the silence in the room.

"Since you're Chinese too, missing Chinese shouldn't be a problem either. You'll be dismissed,” she said, giving her only son another side hug before she left the room, Yixing and Tao exchanging a few words in Chinese, leaving Kris looking confused.

"What?" Suho asked and he just shook his head.

"Yixing felt it was necessary to repeat what the principal said and I don't understand why...," Kris mumbled, getting a confused look from Suho.

"Whatever," he just mumbled shrugging his shoulders. "We will go eat something, you can stay here if you want," Suho announced, pulling Kris with him to not continue standing around awkwardly. In the end, they weren't that close yet and three people were more than enough, to begin with.

 

 

 

Kris realized Yixing was looking down during Chinese class but didn't mention it, regretting that decision later that day when he got a message from the other saying he done it again and basically begging for Kris to not tell anyone. Lay kept his word in telling him, so he couldn't just break his and expose him, so the only thing he could do is tell Lay he wants to talk to him tomorrow after school. Getting the reply he couldn't, apparently, Suho promised to help him with biology. So Kris let it slide, not sure what to do. He never knew how hard those secrets were to handle.

 

 

 

Luhan didn't look a lot better the next day, when during lunch-break he sat between Tao and Sehun, looking pale and appearing spaced out. He hadn't bought food for himself but nibbled on Tao’s pudding, occasionally taking sips of Tao’s orange juice the other clearly wasn't drinking.

Yixing was sitting with Suho, who was explaining the homework in Korean to him. Suho had learned a bit from observing his Chinese classmates. Even though Luhan and Yixing seemed to speak perfect Korean, they struggled a bit with comprehending complicated texts in a short time, making it difficult to follow the lesson. Analysing Korean poetry was definitely a hard one for Yixing, so Suho offered to help. He appreciated that the other was trying a lot more to actually get better and appreciated Suhos tutoring whereas Chen and Kyungsoo always seemed to want to sleep, barely listening to him talk. Lovely and sensible Lay, on the other hand, was actually trying his best, but struggling regardless, testing Suhos patience quite a lot.

"Want some?" Chanyeol asked Kyungsoo, sitting next to him and pushed his food plate to him. Getting a dark look from the other he specified: "I'm not that hungry and you hate wasting food." Another dark look, but the other took the food, picking it apart for a while, before actually eating.

"How can you not be hungry? I'm always hungry and I'm minion size compared to you!" Xiumin said loudly, cause he was sitting a few places across the table, head resting on Chen's shoulder. The other was eating an apple that came with the food plate, which Xiumin was definitely not going to eat, no food on his own.

"You have no time for me anymore since you two are attached by the hip nowadays!" Baekhyun, who was sitting next to Chanyeol, complained.

"Sadly not," the older answered wiggling his eyebrows. It took a few seconds, till Baekhyun realized what the other just said, blushing hard and burying his face in Chanyeol’s shoulder whining: "My friends are so embarrassing!" Chanyeol looked confused for a moment, looking at Xiumin still wiggling his eyebrows, then the realization hit him too, making him blush also.

"Oh my god you two are soo slow," Xiumin said rolling his eyes and focusing back on eating his food, till he remembered something.

"Hey, Sehun, did you remember asking Luhan about Saturday?"

"I did, he's coming, are you bringing Chen?" he answered gesturing to the other.

"Should I?" he asked, getting a shrug in response.

"Your house your rules!" Sehun just replied.

"Hey Chen," he started grinning mischievously "we are having a sleepover at my house on Saturday, wanna come over?" Chen looked confused pointing at himself. "Yes you, are you coming or not?" Xiumin asked adding "Luhan will also be there."

"Ahem... Sure...," the other said making Xiumin smile and say to Sehun: "He's also coming!" Sehun giving him thumbs up.

                       

 

 

The Friday went by, Luhan still looking sick, Yixing looking depressed, but studying in every free minute and so did Tao, mainly because Kris was making him to. Jongin had noticed not only Luhan and Sehun becoming a bit closer, which he couldn't be happier about, but also Chen and Xiumin, and Baekhyun and the clumsy tall guy always looking a bit confused. Chanyeol and Jongin had never had a proper conversation so he knew nothing about him, but he made Baekhyun laugh quite often while they were talking. Suspiciously often, so often the younger was sure there was more than just friendship going on.

Because Kris and Suho were occupied with tutoring and he wouldn't dare to interrupt Sehun or the others, he tried getting a bit closer to Kyungsoo, who always seemed a bit out of place and had this dark aura following him sometimes. But Kai could see behind that, knowing Soo was a vulnerable person, just trying to protect himself. He knew by the way he was whispering to sick Luhan, or the subtle gazes he exchanged with Chen and Chanyeol, seeming to have a conversation without actually talking. There was this realization Kai had about his new friends, thinking about their parents and living situation. He didn't really know anything about any of those things. It wasn't important, but still, shouldn't a friend know? Also, he had nobody’s phone number, not even Soo’s even though he was getting closer to him every break time or literature class. He had the slight realization, that all the newbies had their defences up, trying to be friendly, but platonic in a way. And to be honest, he was intrigued by the question, what they were hiding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it ^-^  
> Maybe you have already figured out what might be going on with the south high kids, but if not, keep guessing ^-^  
> Leave a comment if you want  
> See you soon  
> XOXO


	7. sleepovers featuring Chen and Luhan

The first one to arrive at Xiumin’s on Saturday was Jongin, who simply seemed to be incredibly bored. Sure he could go swimming by himself, but that was exactly as boring as just sitting at home doing nothing. The weather was hot and while waiting for the others, Xiumin and the younger planned a little surprise for them. They were all going to land in the pool. Suho was the next to arrive, leaving his things in the living room after Xiumin’s mum had let him in. Searching for his friends, he went outside guessing they were by the pool. And there was Jongin, leaning on the edge with closed eyes. Just as Suho was trying to say something, he felt a firm push and went flying right into the pool. Xiumin and Kai were bursting into laughter whereas Suho just struggled to get to the edge of the pool his heavy clothes weighing him down. Congratulating each other Xiumin and Jongin finally helped Suho out of the waters, offering him a towel and explaining to him that they were planning to do this with everybody. He didn't object but was wondering how on earth they wanted to trick Kris into the pool.

Chen was the one to struggle the most with swimming in wet clothes, barely staying above the water till finally, Sehun pulled him out. Luhan was the last to come. He was 20 minutes late so not only was he going to be a victim, but now everybody was determined to help. Except for Chen who still hadn't recovered from nearly drowning in wet clothes.

Luhan looked a bit like a deer in headlights when Xiumin’s mother opened the front door.

"Oh, you must be one of Xiumin’s new friends, what's your name?" she asked brightly.

"Luhan," he answered while getting into the mansion-like house.

"Oh, are you Chinese?" she asked right away, Luhan smiling and nodding. "I'm Miss Kim Xiumin’s mother if you need anything feel free to ask, you can even ask in Chinese," she added winking. It took Luhan a moment to realize what she was saying and just when he wanted to say something she interrupted him: "The others are outside by the pool, just go straight, the backdoor is open," she explained leaving him to do as she said.

He kept his two-meter distance to the pool when he greeted Sehun and Suho, both leaning on the edge of the pool on the other side. Just before he could have a look around to find the others he felt the ground under him disappear, realizing someone picked him up he squealed and tried to hold onto Kai who was holding him bridal style, moving towards the pool, but with little struggle, the younger threw Luhan in the water. The pool was deeper than expected; standing was at least in this part of the pool not possible and his clothes soaking wet weighing him down the Chinese boy was struggling to get his head above water. Arms and legs moving without much control he didn't really manage to move much, still about half a meter underwater. It felt like hours, but probably only half a minute or so passed by when he felt someone grab him from behind dragging him up. As soon as the edge of the pool was in close distance Luhan grabbed it and held onto it like his life depended on it. Xiumin and Kai bursting in laughter so was Baekhyun.

"They did it with me too," Chen said looking exhausted.

"You looked hilarious in the water," Sehun chuckled, appearing right next to him in the pool. Looking around a bit, Kris standing outside in the shadows, Suho still was where he was minutes ago; Luhan figured it was probably Sehun to pull him out.

"Thanks for helping," he mumbled clinging onto the edge of the pool.

"Are you just a poor swimmer or were you panicking?" the younger laughed, swimming around Luhan, now on his other side.

"I can't swim," he said trying to avoid eye contact.

"What? Why didn't you learn it in primary school?" Sehun asked.

"We didn't learn swimming in school," Luhan simply stated trying to get out of the pool, struggling a bit more than he should.

"Here you go," Xiumin said throwing a towel at him.

"Your swimming sucks," he laughed.

"He can't swim," Sehun explained, getting out of the waters too. Luhan trying to get away as quickly as possible, hiding with Chen as far away from the pool as possible in the garden.

"Come on Luhan, we won't push you in again," Sehun called him a few minutes later but he wasn't going to go near the pool anytime soon.

"For my own safety I prefer staying as far away from danger as possible," he called back making Chen chuckle. Moments later still drenching wet Sehun came over looking a bit unsure of himself.

"Are you mad with me?" he asked actually looking worried.

Luhan shook his head: "No, I'm just really not planning on another drowning experience today."

"Ok," Sehun replied, still not looking sure of himself.

"Go back swimming, I'm fine," the older ordered, getting a bit closer to Chen to rest his head on his shoulder. Sehun’s expression changed for a bit, but he returned to swimming without a single comment.

 

 

 

Everybody with the exception of Baekhyun and Jongin seemed to have a side eye on Luhan and Chen during dinner, questioning the situation. Both were eating for once, Suho actually remembered Luhan used to eat lunch during week one, but for maybe two weeks now he had joined Chen in not eating and sleeping instead. But today both were eating and feeding their boys with the neutrinos they seemed to be desperately lacking. Everybody except maybe Baekhyun had noticed Luhan’s sudden weight loss, but Chen didn't look any healthier than his Hyung. Kris was secretly concerned about them having eating disorders but eating big amounts in public like they just did, wasn't really a thing people with such disorders could easily do.

"Your mum is a great chef," Chen complimented making Xiumin raise an eyebrow.

"Tell her yourself," he said and called "mum," loudly through the living room.

"What's wrong?" she asked, coming in the room hugging her son from behind. He definitely got his cuddling habits from her.

"Xiumin said I should complement your cooking to your face," Chen stated, making Miss Kim smile brightly.

"Thank you so much dear," she said and proceeded to pile a huge amount of food on his plate complaining about him being too skinny. Well, she had a point there...

 

 

 

"Cause we don't know you that well, I think it’s only fair if everybody gets to ask one anonymous question about you," Baekhyun suggested and without waiting for Luhan to protest he handed out sheets of paper to write questions on, to everyone but Luhan and Chen. The questions were gathered by Baekhyun while everyone tried finding a comfortable place in the circle. Xiumin and Chen were sitting on pillows on the ground, Luhan sitting in the middle of the small sofa, squeezed between Sehun and Jongin, who was weirdly close to him today. He already sat next to him during dinner, but they barely ever talked. Maybe he was trying to keep him and Suho from fighting. Kris, Suho and Baekhyun were sitting on the giant bed, where everyone could sit if nobody had problems with being very close, but Luhan and Suho didn't seem to want that and Kris was also not a person to enjoy being way too close to people other than his partners.

"Those are yours, Luhan," Baekhyun said and handed him a few sheets, Chen already holding his, then seating himself between Kris and Suho.

"Chen goes first," Xiumin decided grinning mischievously and Luhan got a bit nervous. Xiumin was already a bit inappropriate in person but with the cover of some anonymity, he might get worse.

"Why do you always shower in school even though you don't have sports that day?" he read, Luhan hoping Chen was great at improvising, cause he was not ready to keep secrets during interrogations by friends. "Warm water," he said as if it was nothing. Good one, most people’s boilers were limited. Already reading question two, shutting down any follow-up questions.

"Why do you never eat at lunch break?" he read. "I'd rather sleep instead," he answered, surprising Luhan with his confidence. Maybe he had prepared answers beforehand. Luhan wished he had.

"Top or bottom," he read now actually blushing a bit and side-eying Xiumin who shrugged with an unapologetic look.

"Wasn't me, I'd ask you directly," he stated.

"Ahem, inappropriate but top," he answered, making everyone laugh.

"It’s only getting worse from here, I can promise, get used to it," Kris said jokingly, making Luhan even more uncomfortable.

"You ok?" Sehun whispered, he already caught onto Luhan’s mood.

"Nothing," the older mumbled, while the other placed an arm around his shoulder, pulling him closer, even though they were already sitting real close. But it wasn't giving Luhan any comfort, he was just getting lost in his thoughts and worries.

"Do you have dumb, mean or inappropriate nicknames for us in your head or while talking to friends?" Chen read smiling like he was caught. "Well Luhan is Princess Lu since middle school, Tao is Panda and Kyungsoo evil penguin but for you guys. Well... Luhan called Xiumin Baozi once and I kinda caught onto that."

"Stop dragging me into this," Luhan interrupted, trying to defend himself.

"I think I might have called Suho teachers-pet once or twice...," Chen continued while laughing. „Oh, and Sehun was rainbow-hair for a week or two cause I couldn't remember his name. That’s it I swear," Chen said, quickly picking the next question.

"How many partners did you have," he read, looking startled while Luhan hid his face in Sehun’s shoulder, blood streaming into his head, making sounds in his ears.

"I told you it was only getting worse," Kris stated looking unbelievably calm.

"Ahem a few... I don't keep numbers, five or six," he said, making Luhan raise an eyebrow: "As if, you whored yourself through middle-school and I know it!"

"Shut up princess, I know all your baggage," he replied partly playful, partially seriously. "Ok, maybe it was like 12 or something, but whatever," he said annoyed. Xiumin, Baekhyun, Jongin and Sehun laughing.

"Be careful Jongdae, I also know your baggage so stop calling me princess," Luhan countered angrily.

"Of course you’re Majesty," Chen replied, prompting Luhan to throw a couch pillow at him.

"Last one," Xiumin said, throwing the pillow back, hitting Luhan in the face. "Do you have no reflexes?'" he asked while laughing at the younger.

"Why is it so impossible for you to get enough sleep at home so you don't fall asleep in class," Chen read.

"Mum, stop that, not your life, not your business," Xiumin said glaring at Suho.

"It is my business cause one, I am the prefect for grade 2, and two, his grades will affect the school and that will affect all of us," Suho defended himself.

"Did Xiumin just call him mum?" Luhan asked quietly.

"That’s his nickname, cause he always feels responsible and calls us out on our bullshit," Jongin answered, actually talking with Luhan for once.

"Stop swearing Kai," Suho said, getting a "Yes mum," as a reply. Suho glaring at Chen who just shrugged and answered: "Loud neighbours."

 

"It’s your turn princess," Chen said smiling a bit too brightly, making Luhan gulp, nervously opening the first question.

"Are you dieting or something that nature," he read, calming himself down, nothing to worry about. "No, I'm not, I was just a bit sick last week," he answered, eagerly picking a new question trying to, just like Chen, avoid follow-ups that way.

"Have you been to the doctor about that? My mom was really worried on Wednesday," Suho asked before Luhan could start reading the next question. ‘Just lie,’ was what Luhan said to himself, this is a lie he had prepared for.

"I was, I got some medicine, that’s why I'm so much better now," he said adding: "Tell your mom not to worry!" Suho gave him a nod, and he took that as a sign to continue, but before reading out loud he saw the sentence and blood rushed through his head, making him blush profusely.

"Top or bottom," Jongin read out after snatching the paper, Luhan trying to hide his face in embarrassment, Chen laughing out loud: "That's what you deserved for earlier!" It took Luhan about a minute before he could answer, everybody else amused at his embarrassment.

"Bottom I think," he mumbled, picking a new question as fast as possible, not catching the eyebrow wiggling and winking Xiumin gave to Sehun.

"Have you ever done something illegal and what," he read, focusing on the paper and his breathing to calm himself down again. It took him a moment to think, then answering: "Underage drinking."

"Didn't we all...," Chen interrupted, getting confused looks from the others, making him a bit uncomfortable and then quickly adding: "Maybe it’s just south-high."

Suho was staring judgingly at Luhan and the other also seemed to take the situation more serious than Chen did. The fun atmosphere took a tall and to defend the now like a deer in headlights looking Luhan Chen explained: "In his defence: He drank once, unlike me and basically everybody else who was wasted out of their minds every weekend, Luhan was mother Teresa always making sure nobody would choke on their own vomit so keep your judgment to yourselves!"

Kris raised an eyebrow: "Everybody else?" He said in a challenging tone.

"I was wasted every weekend like wasted to the point I couldn't remember the weekend. Soo was not that bad in middle school but after the breakup with his boyfriend he was the fucking worst, always drinking till he couldn't hold the bottle anymore. Chanyeol was wasted quite a lot too, but not that badly, I mean less than me, he was more the beer pong king. Lay had some months I literally thought he was an alcoholic. I think Kyung and Lay both had some near-death experiences due to too much alcohol," Chen casually told everyone who just looked shocked.

"What?" Jongin breathed out, no emotion in his voice.

"I mean it that was super normal in south high, Luhan was a fucking saint not drinking ever," Chen explained to the startled Jongin.

"Well, he did once," Suho interrupted.

"That was enough for me to never want to again," Luhan explained quickly, then realizing he might have just said too much.

“Why?" Suho dug making Luhan wish he hadn't said anything.

"I had too much, did some stuff I regret, blacked out, and felt miserable the day after...," he mumbled.

"Yea, cause you were drugged you dumbass, do you really think you'd be that incapable after two shots? Are you mad?" Chen said annoyed. Sehun looked even more shocked than Luhan who stuttered: "What do you mean?"

"That guy that was all over you that night, the one you made out with after getting drugged, the one that constantly had his hands on you, he slipped something in your drink. You can be soo lucky Yixing’s then-boyfriend was there to get him off! Did he never tell you?" Chen continued, shocking not only Luhan with that information.

"No, he didn't, he told me I drank too much and I shouldn't do that again. I slept on his couch that night...," Luhan mumbled, overthinking the whole situation. Could it be...? "You got more luck than brain princess, watch your fucking glass next time," Chen said, ending the conversation, no one in the room really knew what to say to all of that.

After a few uncomfortable minutes of dead silence, everybody in their own thoughts, Luhan finally picked up the next slip of paper and read: "Where did your bruises come from?" Trying to be just as persuasive as Chen earlier Luhan answered: "Slipped and fell down the stairs, landing face first in the shoe stand."

Continuing as fast as possible Luhan read the next paper: "Rank everybody here and Kyungsoo, Tao, Yixing and Chanyeol in order of fuck-ability, your personal preference of course." Blushing again right after reading it.

"Oh for god’s sake Princess, grow up," Chen laughed, throwing a pillow at him.

"Chen’s definitely last," Luhan said, blocking the pillow with his arms, making Chen laugh and playfully grab his heart saying: "That hurt!"

"Ahem," now clearly uncomfortable, not wanting to hurt anyone’s feelings, he tried to get it over with as fast as possible. "Suho, Baekhyun, Kyungsoo, Chanyeol...," only stopping for a moment to take a breath. "Jongin, Yixing, Kris, Xiumin, Tao, Sehun," he said, as fast as possible quickly grabbing the last paper, but Chen wouldn’t let it go.

"Tao?" he asked his head slightly sideways.

"He has a really lovable personality," Luhan defended himself.

"But he acts like a fucking foetus," Chen said judgmentally.

"My preferences not yours," Luhan stressed.

"He's just in there because he's Chinese and lets you cuddle with him," the other concluded, Luhan, rolling his eyes and making a face in his direction, getting a laugh in return.

Chinese, that was something Sehun couldn't compete with. And Yixing, but also Kris and Tao did make his top five after all, and so did Xiumin. He realized Luhan put the people he was closest too furthest up there, but Kris' presence was only explainable with his Chinese skills. Maybe Chen was up there too, the two were so playful and comfortable with each other. Sehun felt a few pokes in his heart. The only thing keeping him from losing his mind was that he made the top of the list as Jongin kindly reminded him by winking at him as soon as Luhan wasn't noticing. But still, how could he compete with Tao and Yixing? He knew Jongin and Kris weren't going to compete but how about the Chinese boys he barely knew. Xiumin seemed occupied with Chen and after all, Luhan seemed to be a bottom, but that didn't really help that much with Sehun’s nerves.

"Remember your number one," Jongin whispered in his ear, noticing his friend getting lost in his thoughts. "Stop worrying so much!" Trying to be as playful as possible, mimicking the way Luhan usually interacted with his friends, he wrapped his arms around the other from behind, resting his chin on his shoulder, making Luhan smile. Sehun knew the last question and he was more than interested in the answer.

"What is your family situation like," the older read, pausing a moment than saying: "I live with my dad; my mom lost the custody battle so that’s how it is."

"How did it come your mom lost custody? Usually, moms get custody super easily," Jongin asked a bit confused. Luhan’s hair brushed against Sehun’s cheek when he turned his head to face the other while answering the question.

"My mom got me when she was quite young, so the court argued someone older would be more responsible." The defeat was clearly audible in his voice.

"Where does your mom live now? Does she visit often?" Suho asked. He was really incredibly close to his mom and therefore couldn't imagine not seeing her for a while.

"She now works and lives in Hong Kong. I barely get to see her, my dad and her don't talk so she can't visit. If my dad allows I get to see her during holidays, but that's just a maybe," he said looking to the ground.

"Do you miss her?" Suho asked, getting a weak nod in response. No follow up questions, everyone was quiet for a moment, Sehun holding Luhan a bit tighter than before, he noticed but that was exactly what he needed at this moment, leaning back so that his back was tightly pressed against Sehun’s chest. He could definitely get used to this.

 

After a long and winded explanation about the rules of their game that left Chen and Luhan with more questions than answers, both finally finished writing their question and task down, tossing it into the bowl.

Xiumin went first, grabbing into the bowl and fishing out a paper, reading: "Have a stare-duel, no words allowed and try to make the other uncomfortable. If one averts their eyes, the other wins." A quick look through the room, eyes landing on Luhan. "You get uncomfortable easily so you’re my pick!"

Sitting opposite each other Xiumin started with dragging a finger down Luhan’s collarbone, grinning in a seducing manner, but Luhan was not that easy to get. Upping his game Xiumin placed his hands on Luhan’s thighs dragging them up just a little really slow and just as expected Luhan backed away, looking anywhere but Xiumin. Everyone was laughing, Kris saying something in Chinese to Luhan, that made him blush, Kai laughed: "Luhan you really have to get used to Xiumin being like this if you want to survive." Luhan sat down between him and Sehun again, arms slung around Sehun’s shoulders face hiding behind the others, not seeing Xiumin making suggestive gestures to Sehun, making Kai and Chen laugh.

Chen went next, reading: "Tell us about an embarrassing sexual encounter." Kris face palmed looking like he lost faith in humanity, Suho and Baekhyun giggled and Luhan hid his blushing face again.

"It’s not like embarrassing, it's more of a funny story," Chen started making everybody interested. "So one time both parties had a few drinks and we were fucking…" Luhan was actually considering covering his ears. "So we were fucking missionary style and decided to switch positions, when he was trying to flip over he accidentally kicked my head and I blacked out," Chen finished. Xiumin, Baekhyun, Kai and Sehun balling in laughter.

"That's the best thing I've heard in a while," Xiumin chocked out still laughing.

"Sehun it's your move," Kris said trying to move on with the awkwardness. Fishing out a sheet he read: "Sit on someone’s lap for the rest of the game, in case you're Kris, let someone sit on your lap cause you’re too tall and will crush someone."

"Who the fuck wrote this?" Kris chuckled, again looking like he wanted to facepalm himself.

"Anonymity," Kai, Xiumin and Baekhyun said basically at the same time.

"But you’re tall too, I think that rule should apply to you too," Baekhyun ruled, Xiumin nagging: "You’re just afraid of getting crushed!"

"I'll pick Luhan," Sehun said as casually as he could, mainly because since Xiumin had Chen here, he couldn't pick him and with everybody else, it would just get awkward very quickly. Patting on his thighs he gestured Luhan to get up and sit there, Luhan not as uncomfortable as he'd expected. After him sitting down and Sehun wrapping his arms around the older Chen asked grinning: "Who's more comfortable, Sehun or Yixing?" He just got a girly look from Luhan, shrugging, closing his eyes and snuggle a bit closer to Sehun’s chest.

"Your turn," Jongin commented handing Luhan a sheet of paper so he didn't have to get out of Sehun’s back hug to get it himself.

"Tell us a secret about your best friend we probably don't know yet," he read, looking to the ceiling and tapping his chin thinking.

"Yixing and Kyungsoo lost their virginity to the same guy," he told casually.

"Really?" Suho let out surprised.

"Yep, Yixing was dating this fucking asshole for a while and after they broke up Kyungsoo dated him for two years," Luhan said.

"Watch your language Luhan," Suho muttered annoyed.

"Nah, if you knew him you'd say the same about him," Luhan stood his ground, reminding Kai to go on before the situation could escalate.

"How old were you when you had your first time," he read. "15," Kai answered casually, pushing the bowl to Suho.

"Eat a slice of cake without using your hands," he read.

"I'll get some cake," Xiumin said getting up.

"I want some too," Baekhyun excitedly shouted. Xiumin asked sighing. "Who else?"

"Me too," Kai replied.

"Luhan? Chen? The two of you gaining a pound each would be good for my heart," he joked poking Chen’s bony shoulder.

"Who could say no to cake," Chen said cheekily. It took only a minute for Xiumin to be back with cake. Everyone laughing at Suho’s efforts to not get the cake in his face while Luhan and Chen both nibbling at their own slice. The next dare was for Kris to do a handstand, doing that he fell over knocking over the small bedtime table; Baekhyun fell off the bed in laughter.

"Arm-wrestle someone of your choice, the winner gets to slap the others ass," Baekhyun read looking straight at Luhan.

"Why me," he whined while getting up from Sehun’s lap. "Cause I want to have a chance!”

However, Luhan did win, slapping Baekhyun as hard as he could as a punishment, making the other's eyes a tiny bit watery. "Really? That wasn't even that hard, no wonder you cry during sex," Xiumin commented, referencing last week’s game, making Luhan cringe.

"Why is everyone so inappropriate?" he asked Sehun while sitting back onto his lap.

"They’re always like this," Sehun simply replied wrapping his arms back around Luhan’s middle, while he took another small bite of his cake.

"Am I not a bit heavy for you?" Luhan asked, poking his fork into the cake again.

"No, you're actually quite tiny," the younger shrugged resting his chin on Luhan’s shoulder bones since that was really all he could feel. "You lost a lot of weight," he said judgemental, trying to make clear he didn't like that, still not completely convinced there was no dieting at play.

"I know, I'm eating see," Luhan uttered putting a piece of cake in his mouth and smiling.

"You seem really comfortable here," Sehun said jokingly, rocking the other just a little.

"I sit on Yixing’s lap sometimes, it's no big deal," the older explained, not knowing it was a big deal for the other.

 

It was back to Xiumin picking a paper. "Do you secretly ship someone of us together?" he read wiggling his eyebrows. "Hm... I low-key ship Kai and Owl eyed Kyungsoo and I high key ship Hunhan, so high-key in fact, I even have a ship name," he smiled mischievously plus wiggling his eyebrows.

"Hunhan?" Luhan asked questioning.

"That's my official ship name for you two. I think it fits, I ship it," the round-faced boy said shrugging with no regrets.

"Apparently this is a thing now," Luhan mumbled to Sehun while rolling his eyes, piercing the youngers heart a little. Chen had to swallow a spoon of nothing but pure cinnamon, making him nearly choke to death, only after a few minutes regaining control of his coughing.

For some reason Jongin went before Sehun this round, reading: "What are your turn-ons?" Luhan giggled awkwardly, receiving an annoyed eye roll from Chen. "I like innocent looking ones, with big eyes and plump lips," he said.

 "Well Kyungsoo is single," Luhan uttered, Xiumin and Chen grinning way too much about that comment. Now it was Jongin's turn to feel awkward and blush ever so slightly, quickly handing a folded sheet to Sehun. "You have to kiss someone on the mouth, but plot twist, everyone else has to vote on who you should kiss," he read.

"Luhan," Baekhyun proposed, maybe in self-defence, cause often he was the one picked for any dare involving a partner.

"Yes, he said you're fuck-able, so the least you can do is kiss him," Xiumin shouted loudly while smiling way too brightly.

"I'm against that," Luhan said, but he was easily overvoted, having Jongin and of course the traitor Chen cheer for them to kiss.

"At least 10 seconds or it doesn't count," Xiumin ruled, disregarding eye rolling Luhan. Baekhyun was taking a video... Cause that needed to happen...

Luhan shifted his position to sit sideways on Sehun’s lap so he could face the other, to make the whole thing less weird he put his arms around Sehun’s neck closed his eyes and kissed him before this could end in awkward eye contact or conversation. He had nearly forgotten how much he loved kissing; the feeling of closeness and the unavoidable butterflies one gets when kissing someone you have feelings for. The butterflies were making him a bit drowsy, he nearly forgot where he was and what he was doing. Xiumin and Baekhyun were meanwhile making squealing noises. Separating slowly Luhan’s arms still around Sehun’s neck, his hands still resting on the Chinese boys’ waist. After only a mere second of eye contact, Luhan quickly shifting back to his original position, taking Sehun’s hands and wrap them back around his middle, like they have been before.

To stop the squealing and the slightly ironic whistles from Chen, the Chinese boy quickly reached for another sheet of paper reading: "Rough or gentle?"

A moment of silence, Luhan looking confused until, after an awfully long moment, his eyes widened in realization, beginning to blush. Chen broke the silence by laughing: "Oh my god, you're so slow, princess!" It took Chen a minute to stop choking on his own laughter, Luhan still not getting out a single word.

"Don't know...," he mumbled, looking everywhere but his friends.

"Oh come on Luhan, rough or gently, it’s this simple," Kai teased.

"I don't know...," he repeated.

"It's this easy, do you like slow soft gentle sex or do you like it fast hard and sweaty," Xiumin said, clearly seeing how uncomfortable the other was and taking this to his advantage teasing him. He just blushed a bit more, still avoiding eye contact, Chen grinning mischievously and saying: "That's what you get for judging my sexual history earlier."

"Right Luhan, what about the question," Baekhyun said, way too nosy for Luhan’s taste. He mumbled something in Chinese making Kris raise his eyebrows.

"Luhan, the question," Xiumin reminded. Chen faking an evil laughter before saying: "He doesn't know cause he hasn't had any." Xiumin and Baekhyun gave him a weird look and just to clarify so even the last person understood: "Princess is still a virgin. By choice, we all know if he wanted he could get some good fuck but..." There was no way out for Luhan who felt the stares of everybody, while he hid his face.

"You're 17, how?" Kai said somewhere between shock and amusement.

"The official story is because his mother had him way too young he wants to make better choices or some stuff like that," Chen went on spilling.

"Snitch," Luhan mumbled, but only getting an unapologetic: "It's not really a secret." Then adding: "Moving on, it’s your turn Suho!"

Suho looked a bit flustered, but quickly picking a task, having to rank everybody based on nothing but personality. "Tao, Luhan, Kyungsoo, Chen," he started, but being interrupted by Xiumin asking: "Why?"

"Cause their behaviour annoys me and so do their grades and their refusal to work on that, the sleeping, the secretive behaviour that they always cover for each other even though they know the other is in the wrong, I could go on but I won't," he said coldly. "Moving on, Chanyeol, cause I barely know him, Yixing seems nice but still, the secretive, the covering, he's at least trying to improve his horrible grades, but he’s really slow with everything."

Suho got interrupted again but by Luhan this time saying: "Never ever talk about Yixing like that ever again. He's a better person than you spoiled brat will ever be!" His glaring gaze at Suho was a bit intimidating; nobody in this room, maybe with the exception of Chen had ever seen Luhan this enraged before. Kris was stopping Suho from responding, a hand on his chest, stopping him from getting up in anger.

"Just leave it, he's just defending his friend," Kris mumbled calmly.

"He said I'm a spoiled brat," Suho spat out, but this time it was Xiumin to speak: "You know, most students of south high are not that well off, so to them, we look spoiled, wearing expensive clothing like it’s nothing, when their family is just getting by. You have to understand that their life is different than ours if you want to get them to open up a bit." And with that he slung his arm around Chen, pulling him closer and whispering loud enough for everybody to hear: "I just dropped a few ranks on personality."

A few chuckles, a moment of silence till Suho continued: "Kris cause you're a bit cold sometimes and I hate it when you're speaking Chinese cause I think it’s rude cause we all can't understand. Then Xiumin, cause you're often inappropriate, but you call me out when I say something I shouldn’t have and I really appreciate that! I really do. Then Kai and then Sehun, cause swearing and stuff, Baekhyun is also quite inappropriate sometimes, so... Nobody’s perfect I guess...," he said pushing the bowl with the last two papers to Kris.

"Pick a person and tell them honestly what you don't like about them," he read.

"Go for it, I probably deserve it after bad-mouthing you all," Suho offered right away.

"Well, you always want to change everybody and I know you only want the best for everyone but you disregard their feelings and you never see the nuances of any situation and that’s annoying," Kris finished.

"An example please," Suho said, not showing any particular emotion in his face. "You said it annoys you when we talk Chinese, but we are Chinese, it’s easier to express yourself in your native language, and it’s easier to be understood. You wouldn't talk English to me just because we're on holidays in America would you?" An understanding nod from Suho. "And all the time you are looking down on the south-high kids for their bad grades, maybe they are trying and you're just disregarding them as lazy. Oh and that time you told Yixing he was dumb for not getting biology. First of all, that was rude and would hurt anybody’s feelings but also he is learning and trying but Korean isn't his first language and biology texts are hard to understand as it is. People don't come to you with their problems cause they might fear you'll judge them for having them or you simply won't understand. But I know you don’t mean it that way and that frustrates me because you really do care but you make yourself come off as the rich child that judges everyone and doesn't understand their problems and frankly doesn't want to understand. I know that's not you, but they don't and will never if you keep acting that way," Kris ranted, finishing and staring so intensely at Suho, he might as well stare into his soul. Suho was clearly lost in thoughts and everybody was quiet for a moment, Kris noticed out of the corner of his eyes Luhan playing with Sehun’s hands in his lap, intermingling his fingers with the younger’s.

He had to have a talk with Luhan. He wasn't sure if the other one knew about Sehun’s feelings for him, cause the last thing Kris wanted is to watch someone play with his friends heart like this, cause he knew with every touch and hug and cuddling and affections Sehun fell a tiny bit more for his Hyung. And specifically after the kiss, the intense kiss that Luhan definitely initiated, he couldn't help but feel for his friend, getting all these mixed messages, but after hearing about innocent Luhan he also wasn't sure he even understood what he was doing to the other. Xiumin was clearly making moves on Chen, but the other understood the stubble hints Xiumin’s actions were covered with, so at least for now, there was no need to worry about them too much.

"Are you ok Suho?" Kris asked after the silence got hard to cope with.

"Yea, don't worry; I'm just overthinking a few things. I'm fine, thanks for giving me some reality check," he answered handing Baekhyun the last paper. "You still have to finish your last one," Suho said trying to loosen the tense atmosphere. Glad for the opportunity, Baekhyun grabbed the paper reading: "Tell an embarrassing secret about you." A moment of thinking, Baekhyun blushed ever so slightly. "I think I might have some feelings for Chanyeol," he admitted, his friends laughing.

"He's single," Chen added to the conversation, making Baekhyun just flush a little bit more.

 

 

 

After a few other games were being played and first Chen, then Suho, then Baekhyun looked like they would fall asleep any second they decided to actually go to sleep. Luhan was sharing one of the guestrooms with Sehun since they were friends and Xiumin wanted to share his room with Chen. Kris was sharing one with Suho, as always, Sehun had informed Luhan, and Jongin and Baekhyun were lucky and had a guestroom of their own. Sehun said he'd sleep on the air mattress, but Luhan suggested they would just share the already giant king sized bed, he didn't mind.

And that's how it happened that Sehun woke up in the morning only a few centimetres next to soundly sleeping Luhan, curled up into a ball, hugging his blanket. Sehun must have rolled over in his sleep cause he was definitely a lot more on Luhan’s side of the bed then he should have been. After a few minutes of him creepily staring at the beautiful sleeping Chinese boy, Sehun averted his eyes and finally got out of bed. Leaving as quietly as possible and going downstairs to the kitchen where Xiumin, Kris and Suho already ate some breakfast, of course with the obligatory morning coffee, without neither Suho nor Kris could function in the morning.

"You're up early," Suho stated while Sehun sat down next to him, grabbing some food. "Luhan still sleeping?" he asked getting a nod from Sehun.

"I liked him here, he and Chen are fun to play with, we should invite them more often," Xiumin said while chewing, receiving a judgemental look from Suho.

"I wouldn't mind," Kris shrugged, eyeing Suho and asking: "But you would right?"

"I don't know, I'm trying to get to know them a bit better but it’s no secret me and Luhan have our differences," he said.

"Maybe inviting him will help you two finally get along better?" Kris suggested.

"I think we are getting there, slowly...," Suho claimed not really convincing anyone. “But next week is at mine and I won't invite any of the newbies," he added.

"Fair enough," Xiumin said while chewing. "Also, we are having a test in both science subjects the week after next week, we need to plan the tutoring, cause I will not have any more failed tests, with the newbies or Baekhyun," Suho added.

"What are Tao’s science subjects Sehun?" he asked.

"Physics and now programming," the other said.

"Oh right, he got great grades in math and 0 points in physics, I nearly forgot about that. Do you think you and Jongin could tutor him?" he asked taking a sip of coffee.

"He doesn't talk to us. Maybe Kris could," Sehun replied glancing at the older.

"I really need to talk to him, why on earth is it so hard for him to have a conversation with anybody but Luhan and Yixing! I get being shy but this is just ridiculous," Suho said annoyed.

"I can try tutoring him," Kris offered calmly.

"Great, that leaves the others to me. So I need to tutor biology, physics and chemistry. Yixing, Chen and Kyungsoo need all the tutoring they can get, I'll make Baekhyun join chemistry. Hopefully, there won't be any more failed tests," Suho ended.

"I admire what you're trying to do, but to be honest I think you might fail, one week is probably not enough to make all of them good enough to pass, just think about by what great of a margin they failed the last test," Xiumin said, being the voice of reason as so often. "Just keep that in mind,” he added then focussing back on his food.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it ^-^  
> If you did leave a comment or kudos.  
> See ya'll soon  
> XOXO


	8. the secrets they keep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys ^-^  
> I'm back with a really long chapter, that I hope you guys all enjoyed reading.   
> Thank you guys so much for the supportive comments recently. I really cherish them ^-^  
> See you soon  
> XOXO

Being the son of the principal had a lot of advantages, but one of the disadvantages was, that because his mom needed to be in school before everybody else, he had to get up earlier or take the bus, but the bus would not grant him more time to sleep either so nearly every day he decided to drive with his mom to school. The new Mercedes she got for her birthday from Suho’s dad was really comfortable and because they were quite early the streets were empty and the drive to school usually barely took 15 minutes. While slowly driving through a small street to get to the main road, Suho noticed a familiar person walking.

"Hey mom, wait a moment," he asked and rolled the window down. "Kyungsoo?" Suho said questioning but the other turned out to be him after facing the car. "Why are you up so early?" he asked, leaning a bit out of the window. Just a shrug in return.

"Do you need a ride to school?" Suho’s mother asked, leaning a bit over Suho so she would be visible to her student.

"Yea, come jump in," Suho suggested. Slightly hesitating Kyungsoo opened the back door and slid onto the back seat.

"Are you always this early?" Miss Kim asked while driving off.

"I usually walk to school, it takes a while," he said quietly.

"Why don't your parents drive you?" Suho asked getting an annoyed look from the other.

"We don't own a car," he simply stated. Right, the south-high kids had a different life than him, Suho reminded himself of what Xiumin had told him. He really didn't understand...

"Couldn't you take the bus?" Miss Kim asked, finally they had reached the main road where she could speed up.

"The bus doesn't really go to my district, it's a bit complicated and takes nearly the same time," the other replied.

"But you live so far," Miss Kim said.

"We all do, south high and SM-high are literally opposite sides of town," Kyungsoo just answered shoulder shrugging. Different live circumstances, Suho reminded himself.

"It's like exercise," Kyungsoo said, followed by an uncomfortable silence.

"Kyungsoo, I planned on giving some tutoring for the upcoming science tests, are you free after extracurricular classes? And maybe lunchbreak," Suho asked.

"Sure," he shrugged.

"Are you struggling in some classes?" Miss Kim asked, clearly trying to get to know her new students a bit better.

"All of them, he placed in the lowest few in assessments," Suho answered, examining at his classmate's expression in the mirror, he looked to the ground, expression maybe ashamed, maybe sad, Suho couldn't tell.

"Why are you struggling so much in class, is there anything I could help you with?" Suho’s mother asked with all honesty, Suho knew that. She always wanted students to come to her with their problems, she always tried to bend the rules or help out if possible. He got this from her but he realized he himself was a lot pushier and less emphatic. That was something he definitely needed to improve on.

"No, its fine," Kyungsoo mumbled while the car rolled onto the parking lot behind the school building.

"Are you sure love? You know you can always come and talk to me ok? You know where my office is, I am always free to help," she stressed, Kyungsoo just silently nodding. "Suho, will you help me carry the books to my office, please? Kyungsoo, right? You can wait in the canteen until school starts, the canteen is already open," she said smiling, Kyungsoo disappearing quickly.

"He seems a bit intimidated by me," she stated while watching him leave.

"You’re the principal, after all, I guess their old principal wasn't close to the students," Suho just said, while carrying the books. After entering the principal’s office and placing the stack of books on the table, Suho watched his mother scan through a few documents, then finding Kyungsoo’s transfer documents.

"He really did get terrible scores," she said, scanning through his previous records too. "Consistently terrible," she continued, then scanned through his personal information. "Walking to school must take him two hours one way, he really does live far," she mumbled, still reading. "His health records are also quite poor," she finished and closed her document folder. "I wished the new kids would be a bit more open. They are all so quiet,“ she signed putting the folder back in place.

"I'm trying to get to them, but they are all quite secretive. It seems they all know each other but they only talk about shallow stuff and stay quiet on everything else," Suho said, adding: "It annoys me." Miss Kim sighed after hearing that.

"Patience, you need some patience, of course, they won't tell you everything right away, they are obviously not used to do that, but with time they will learn to trust and tell," she said, always trying to stay optimistic.

 

 

 

Baekhyun realized as soon as he saw Chanyeol that day that something was wrong, but he needed to wait till English class in third period to finally be able to talk to the taller boy.

"Rough weekend?" he asked while sitting down next to him. A weak nod, but no verbal answer. "Stop with all the specific information on what happened, I can't handle it," he jokingly said after a moment of silence. That actually made Chanyeol smile slightly.

"I don't really want to talk about it," he said looking down on the blank table.

"You know, talking sometimes helps, you can get all the emotions out," Baekhyun replied. The tall boy just sighed. "How about bubble tea after school and you tell me however much you feel comfortable to tell me. My treat," he suggested, hoping the other would accept his offer. A moment passed by without an answer and Baekhyun lost a bit of his confidence till Chanyeol gave him a nod. One of the brightest smiles he ever had made its way onto Baekhyun's face. He said yes.

 

 

 

When Kris finally got out of English class into the canteen it was already crowded, since their teacher took a bit longer to finish his class. Chanyeol and Baekhyun, who were also in his class were at the lunch line in front of him, talking about classes. Kyungsoo, as always didn't even go to buy lunch but went straight to the table already occupied by Tao, Luhan and Jongin, all already having their lunch plates. Kris vaguely noticed Kyungsoo sitting down next to Luhan, making Tao move a place to the right. To Luhan’s left was a place that he probably held free for Sehun. He really needed to have a talk with him...

When he was finally managed to get his food and escape the lunch line to their table, the rest of the group was already sitting at the table leaving him no choice other than to sit at the place furthest away from Luhan, the one he really needed to talk to. Sehun of course sitting to his right and Kyungsoo to his left, apparently sharing Luhan’s food. He was not the only one to notice, cause merely seconds after he heard Suho say: "Kyungsoo is it too difficult to get yourself your own food?"

The guy in question just gave him a deadly glare, Luhan took a breath, probably going to say something that would get him in trouble, but stopping for a moment till he, as calmly as possible, replied: "Suho, in what way does us sharing food affect you?"

That really did take Suho by surprise, making him think for a moment, but before he could reply anything Luhan already continued: "If it doesn't affect you, why do you need to get involved? It’s not like we are wasting food. You would be a lot less annoying if you would just consider whether or not something actually affects anyone before you get involved," he finished.

Suho actually chose not to reply, but instead shrug his shoulders and try to start a conversation with Yixing by saying: "I promised to help you with biology and tests are coming up, so if you have time, maybe we could study in the library after extracurricular." The other looked at him with big confused eyes but nodded and gave him a soft smile before continuing to eat his lunch.

At some point during lunch break, Luhan’s head was leaning against Sehun’s shoulder, biting on the end of a pencil while looking at his physics notes, Kris decided it was a good moment to start his mission: "鹿晗，我 跟你必须讲话。你汉语课以后有空吗? (Luhan, I need to talk to you, are you free after Chinese class?)" He was deliberately using Chinese to have the lowest number of people understand him.

"有，你有什么事?(I’m free, what’s the matter?)," he asked.

"不要紧，别担心，但是我真的跟你讲话!(nothing serious, don’t worry about it, but I really need to have a talk with you!)," Kris said.

"好啊(ok)," Luhan just replied a bit confused.

"By the way, bring your physics books tomorrow, I am not having another round of terrible tests so you are going to have a tutoring session with me every day after school starting tomorrow," Suho said loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Got no physics," Chen said cheerfully.

"Then bring Chemistry. It’s not like you are great at that," Suho replied. "Also Baekhyun, you can join too!" The other sighed, but didn't say anything, mainly cause he knew it was true, he needed some tutoring.

The rest of lunch break was quite uneventful other than that Kris noticed Suho spend quite a lot of time talking to Yixing, who seemed to be learning biology. Kris unintentionally watched his fellow Chinese man a bit too often, monitoring what he was doing, judging his choices. He felt a bit like a father to the confused, maybe a bit depressed guy. He wasn't sure what to think of Suho’s involvement since Suho had his fair share of unintentionally hurtful comments he had dropped in the past but he simply decided to hope for the best and let it slide.

 

P.E. class was actually kind of fun for once, not only were all of them in the same class, excluding of course Tao, Jongin and Sehun, who were in first not second grade, but other than that the group was complete. Funny enough, it was actually the only class all of them had together. Chen and Xiumin who seemed to stick together like magnets these days were a team during stretching, so were Baekhyun and Chanyeol. Luhan occupied Yixing, which left Kyungsoo with Kris and Suho since they were an uneven number of students in class. He tried to stay calm but inside he wasn't. It’s not like he was afraid of his classmates, it was just that both of them were notorious for digging into personal secrets, Suho more upfront and Kris more observing, but both had this habit of trying to find out what somebodies secrets were and Kyungsoo didn't want them to know, no one in his new school should know. That's what they all promised each other before the schools switch. Nobody would tell. 'Snitches are bitches that end up in ditches' was the official motto of south high. Don't ask, don't tell, but if you do, there would be consequences. Maybe bloody consequences.

"Why did you share food with Luhan, instead of buying your own?" Suho asked, cause, of course, he would.

"Are you two…," he said, trailing off. It took the other a few seconds to understand the implication.

"No no no, we're not dating or anything," he stressed slightly shocked and surprised by the conclusion Suho had made. Kyungsoo noticed that he looked relieved, making his own conclusion and asking carefully hoping to distract from the topic of lunch: "Do you ... Like Luhan?" Kris and Suho were both similarly confused until the realization of why the younger was assuming that hit them.

"No no, I wasn't asking for me, I ahem...," Suho stuttered, but then revealed the secret, reminding Kyungsoo why he could never share his's with him: "Sehun kinda has a thing for him." Kyungsoo’s eyes widened a bit, showing more of his already huge white spaces:

"Well, good luck with that," he mumbled.

"Why?" Suho quickly asked, Kyungsoo unsure whether or not he was interrogating him on Sehun’s behalf or if he was actually interested himself.

"He used to be kinda notorious for not letting anyone close to him. He said he wouldn't date till high school but even after we started high school he never did. Some say he is too picky, some he just doesn't want to and the rest believes he can't bring himself to let anyone close enough into his life to actually be involved with him. But however, just gossip, maybe no one ever asked him cause they all assumed things," Kyungsoo said quickly.

"Why isn't he dating Yixing," Suho asked, even more, interested than before.

"Well, Luhan friend-zoned Yixing early on, but they also don't really fit together so...," he answered, already mentally slapping himself. He was getting into dangerous territory.

"Why do you think they wouldn't fit?" Kris asked. It was the first time he actually included himself in the conversation, making Kyungsoo even more nervous than before. He had to be careful with what he said, telling things as broad and unspecific as possible.

"They kinda both need someone more... stable I guess," he said, but Suho wouldn't let it go: "What exactly do you mean with stable?"

Holding onto his principle of being as broad as humanly possible he answered: "They both have... A lot going on in their lives, that's stressful, so they both need someone more, you know, solid, someone to lean on or something." Praying to every god he knew Kyungsoo wished they would leave it at that, but Kris made himself known again, probably caught with his observing eye that Kyungsoo was uncomfortable.

"What exactly is so stressful in Luhan’s life? Why does he need someone to go to?" the taller asked. A moment of silence. He couldn't possibly tell. And since he couldn't he just said: "Snitches are bitches that end up in ditches."

"What?" Suho blurred out confused. Kyungsoo took a deep breath before he started to explain: "We at South high have the principle that no one should talk about anybody’s secrets or stories or problems, cause it's theirs to tell and not yours and if a person should know something the person in question would tell them themselves and if not, it wasn't theirs to know in the first place!" An interesting look from Kris, Suho looked like he was thinking.

"So you won't tell, that's fair I guess," Suho answered, but the younger was still feeling slightly uneasy under Kris's unreadable stare.

Running was less terrible today, after getting some food before sports, still, his time was not great and the sports teacher didn't seem one bit impressed. Luhan did great this time, being the deer he was and finishing first of his group. A side comment about last time was all the teacher said to him. Chen was just as terrible as usual, but cause Xiumin wasn't any better and not trying to in the first place, he didn't get the last place… at least not alone.

 

 

 

Kyungsoo had to hurry with showering after class to somehow get to literature on time. It was always a struggle with only fifteen minutes of spare time and a whole class of boys showering. Baekhyun and Chanyeol took their time, so Kyungsoo decided to go alone instead of waiting for them. Kai was sitting alone at a table, probably waiting for him and the others.

"Hey," he mumbled sitting down to his right. "Baekhyun and Chanyeol?" he said questioning.

"Taking too much time showering," he simply answered, getting out his book.

"How was your weekend?" Jongin asked.

"Boring, nothing to do really, studied a bit, spend some time with my siblings," he answered. "Yours?"

"Nothing much, sleepover at Xiumin’s, we nearly drowned Luhan," he told.

"What? How did that happen?" Kyungsoo asked curiously.

"We pushed everybody in the pool as a prank, but apparently Luhan can't swim at all. He was just randomly moving not getting up one bit so Sehun got him out," Kai said shoulder shrugging.

"Poor Luhan," the older answered.

"He was fine. I should show you the pictures of him and Sehun making out," he said while getting out his phone.

"Wait, what?" Kyungsoo replied absolutely confused.

"We played a game and Luhan had to sit on Sehun’s lap, and then later kiss him. Here you go," Kai said, handing his phone over to Kyungsoo. And there they were. Actual pictures of Luhan kissing Sehun. Fascinated he flipped through the pictures, examining them closely.

"Kinda cute," he muttered hesitantly. Kai smiled.

"I love it," he laughed, smiling a bit too brightly. Kyungsoo, on the other hand, looked a bit concerned.

"I just hope that doesn't end with broken hearts," he mumbled. Kai tipped his head slightly looking confused. "I'm not sure that Luhan likes Sehun this way," he explained his reasoning trying to be diplomatic.

"Really?" Jongin questioned, his smile fading to a look of concerned and disappointment.

"I said I'm not sure," he clarified.

"But Luhan is always so touchy and bubbly and comfortable with Sehun," Kai argued.

"He is literally the same way with everybody he is friends with. Ever watched him with Yixing? Or Tao? Or Xiumin? That's just who he is," Soo explained calmly, he had to admit to himself the broken-hearted look on Jongin’s face did do something to him. God damn, that was literally a bad sign, he couldn't let this happen, but how could he not when the attractive younger boy was looking at him like that.

"I can ask Luhan about this, but I can't promise anything but the truth," he said opening his book to signal that this conversation was over cause they literally had to actually start doing something productive now! Kyungsoo was looking down so it took him by surprise when an arm wrapped around his shoulders, pulling him into a side hug, Kai whispering into his ear:

"Thank you Soo, you're a real friend." A slight blush made its way to Kyungsoo’s face, making him question his decisions in life. How did he end up falling for someone so easily, after everything that he'd been through? And with that he pushed all those feelings far far down into his mind, burying them under all of his problems to never surface again.

 

 

 

Right after Chinese class Kris practically dragged Luhan out of school, into a small bubble tea shop, ordering him to pick something and sit down. His chocolate bubble tea in front of him, Luhan was waiting for Kris to start with whatever he needed to talk to him about.

"So what's the matter?" he asked curiously while taking a sip from the drink Kris bought him.

"Sehun," he said calmly, staring at the fellow Chinese man.

"What about him?" Luhan asked, tilting his head to the side just like girls did when they were trying to be cute, just that Luhan wasn't trying to do that, that was simply who he was.

"Stop playing with him," Kris said without any emotion in his voice or eyes. Luhan looked confused.

"I am doing what?" he asked.

"Stop playing with him. He likes you and you send him mixed messages all the time. Just be honest to him and stop toying him around," he said.

"I am what? What are you even talking about?" he asked, still not catching on. Kris's gaze softened a bit, realizing how oblivious the other was to the whole situation.

"Sehun has a huge crush on you," he explained calmly.

"Wait what? Sehun? Are you sure?" Luhan asked now more confused than ever.

"Yes, I know, it's not really that hard to figure out anyways. But yes he has a huge crush on you and you are sending him a lot of mixed messages by cuddling and kissing and sitting on his lap and at the same time, you seem so platonic about it. I know, that’s probably just how you are, but please stop toying around with Sehun and tell him honestly what you are feeling for him. Just reject him now and stop the skinship and he won't suffer that much. Be fair to him please," Kris said staring Luhan right in the eye. Luhan was quiet for a while, just looking absently onto the table.

"I don't know," he mumbled after an awfully long while.

"Don't know what?" Kris asked confused.

"What I feel for him," Luhan said. Kris raised an eyebrow at him. "I mean, I like him, as a friend, but maybe a bit more than that. But I just don't know if I really like him that way. It's just, I really don't want to stop cuddling and hanging out with him, I... I'm just not sure what I feel," Luhan stammered, staring blankly at the table. Another few minutes of silence till Kris said calmly:

"Then figure it out and talk to him as soon as you know."

 

 

 

Literature class took longer than usual, so when Baekhyun and Chanyeol were finally able to leave school most other students were already gone. Just walking next to each other, not saying a lot till they reached a small cafe, where both of them ordered some milk tea.

"So what's up with you?" Baekhyun asked curiously. Chanyeol took a few deep breaths.

"First promise me you won’t tell anyone," he said looking up from his drink that seemed to be really interesting for the last few minutes.

"I won't," the shorter said.

"Promise," Chanyeol insisted nothing but determination in his eyes.

"I promise," the other answered.

"No teacher, no one in class, not your family, not Suho, no one," the taller insisted and Baekhyun repeated: "I swear!" Rolling his eyes slightly. "So what's going on? Now that you made me swear I expect all the details!"

"I told you my parents are separating right?" the taller asked.

"Yes you did," Baekhyun answered blinking at the other while smiling and using is aegyo to make Chanyeol smile. "Go on," he ordered and so he did.

"So my siblings and I are getting caught in the crossfire at the moment," he said while taking a deep breath.

"In what way?" the older boy asked curiously.

"My mother and my father are not going to share the custody, so they will settle in court who gets the custody over us," he explained.

"Oh, that's nasty, my parents often tell me about those custody battles," Baekhyun said to comfort the other.

"Well, my mother wants the custody over my younger siblings," Chanyeol started, getting interrupted by the other saying: "Of course she wants the custody, she is your mom."

"Well," Chanyeol sniffled trying to formulate what was going on as best as he could.

"She will probably get the house and the car and most of the other stuff, so my dad will have a hard time after the breakup." Baekhyun was just nodding. "And she will most likely get custody over my siblings but...," he said trailing off looking to the table caught in thoughts.

"What?" Baekhyun asked after a moment of silence.

"She doesn't want me to stay," he said in one breath, trying to get this out as fast as possible. Baekhyun just stared at him with wide eyes.

"What?" he replied calmly as if he simply didn't hear what the other just said.

"She wants me to stay with my dad," the younger stated.

"I mean, she probably just wants the best for you," Baekhyun said, but got interrupted by Chanyeol: "No she doesn't, she always tells me how she wishes she never had me and how I am her least favourite child and how I am the reason her life got from good to miserable so all she wants is for me to live with my dad so she doesn't have to see me anymore and then she wants to take everything away from him so my life is just as miserable as hers." Now Chanyeol was tearing up, looking anywhere but Baekhyun he turned to the window, watching cars pass by trying to not just start balling in front of his new friend. No word was uttered for a while, till Baekhyun reached out for Chanyeols hands, folded on the table in front of him, squeezing them lightly.

"I am so sorry for you," he mumbled and actually sounded like he was going to tear up himself. "If there is anything I can do for you, please let me know," he said adding: "My parents are lawyers, if you need any help, I'll be there for you!"

That’s when the first tear dropped from Chanyeols eyes and slowly ran down his face, he was still staring out of the window, but Baekhyun could see the tear slowly making its way to his chin. That’s when he got up, squeezed himself onto the small bench Chanyeol was sitting on and pulled him into a hug. They sat like this for a while, Baekhyun got lost in his thoughts about what to do, how a mother of all people could be this cruel and what other secrets there were hidden behind the closed doors of the families of the former South-high kids, cause he was not only sure that the other kids from his school knew about these things, no, he was sure they all had secrets like this to keep. What might there be hidden in the dark about Luhan, Chen, Kyungsoo, Tao and Yixing, that everybody else knew about, but was hidden from the SM kids and well-kept, safe from any and every teacher's knowledge? Maybe the answer to all the strange behaviour uttered by the new students lied in there, hidden in the dark under secrecy and lies. Baekhyun could only guess.

 

 

 

The following day Kyungsoo didn't even want to get out of bed. The whole night he barely slept cause the heat was keeping him awake, only sleeping a few minutes at a time, his pyjama shirt drenched in sweat. It was just too hot outside, but he didn't have the luxury of an air-conditioning unit so he just had to hope that this was the last heatwave that would hit Korea this year and autumn would finally come. His alarm clock got off at half to six, but he didn't need it, he was awake anyway. Only the pure thought of school made him not want to leave for school, leaving the house and walking for two hours really didn't seem appealing to him, but his loving mom was already up, lightly knocking at his door to make sure he got up early enough to make it to school on time. So he got up, reminding himself the new school was air-conditioned. A perk coming from rotten, left alone, who cares south-high. Everything about his new school was better, with the three exceptions of, the way to school being two hours to walk, the hard-core schedule they learned new topics in, compared to their new paste south-high seemed like a joke and of course the fact that he couldn't be open with his problems anymore, cause unlike his former classmates the SM kids didn't understand them, they didn't get how to handle the situation and they would surely get the teachers involved and that was what they couldn't possibly let happen.

On their last day back in the old building, mould on the walls and everything, they all got together and pleaded to not let anybody know. Never ever. And Kyungsoo was not the one to risk it. He simply couldn't! Too important were all the secrets he kept, to embarrassing the ones the others kept about him.

So he got out of bed, packed the few things he couldn't leave at school cause he needed them for homework and didn't have the money to just buy them twice got dressed and went on his way to school, his mom giving him a gentle kiss on the forehead. She would probably go straight to bed again after he left, his two younger sisters wouldn't have to get up for primary school till seven, the school being in such close proximity and frankly his mother needed the sleep, but he was always glad she did get up just to wish him a good day at school and wave him goodbye. It made him feel loved. It made him feel appreciated. And that was a feeling he enjoyed so much more knowing so many of his peers didn't get to experience this.

 

 

 

"I hate my life," Kai said while resting his head on the table.

"It’s too hot to function," he whimpered. The air conditioning in English class was broken and even though it was only nine o'clock it was already 34 degrees Celsius.

"Wait till we have sports after lunch. We're playing soccer outside remember?" Sehun said. A groan coming back from the other.

"Jongin and Sehun, could you please cut the talking and listen to the lesson," their English teacher interrupted.

"It's too hot," Kai complained, not even lifting his head from the table.

"I know guys, but we still have to learn something," the teacher answered. But after another five minutes, she also surrendered and told them just to speak about their weekend, their plans for next weekend or basically anything else, as long as it was in English. Tao joined the other two, his seat-neighbour Jimin was absent today.

"So what did you do the weekend?" Tao asked in English. Both boys looked up confused, Kai actually managed to lift his head from the table. This was the first time Tao had said anything to them. Ever. What did just happen?

"What?" he asked again in English.

"Nothing, we're just surprised you can talk," Sehun said in Korean, getting a confused look from Tao.

"English?" he said questioning and Sehun decided to just go with the flow and maybe actually participate in the exercise of the lesson.

"We had a sleepover at Xiumins house," he answered, now also speaking English, or something close to English. His pronunciation sucked!

"Oh, I've heard, Luhan mentioned it," he answered.

"How about you?" Jongin asked curiously.

"I go to weekend school so I spend about ten hours in classes, other than that, practised some Kung fu, spend some time with my parents, watched TV, nothing special," he answered.

"You do martial arts?" Jongin asked curiously. That's why he was so fit, no wonder. The other nodded. Also weekend school, that would explain his fluent English and his good pronunciation.

"How about you? Do you do sports?" he asked.

"Dancing," the others answered simultaneously. Tao smiled at them, probably thinking it was strange they seemed to do everything together.

"And what are your plans for next weekend?" he asked.

"Sleepover at Suho’s," Jongin said casually: "How about you?"

"Luhan is coming over, Yixing probably too, maybe some of the others too, not sure yet," he answered.

"To yours?" Sehun asked curiously.

"I have the most space and my parents don't really mind," he just said shoulder shrugging. ‘Interesting,’ Sehun thought to himself. So Tao’s family couldn't be poor, what other reasons might they have to send their son to such a terrible school?

The school bell rang, indicating the fifteen-minute break between classes and Tao got up to get his stuff and leave the classroom.

"See you in math," he said to Sehun, still in English and left, leaving behind two confused classmates.

"That was strange," Sehun said to Kai, back to speaking Korean.

"Yep," Kai let out adding: "But I envy his English. He’s quite fluent and his pronunciation is good!"

 

 

 

Suho was sitting with Yixing during math, finally not getting send away by Chen for being "not shitty enough to adapt to the level of failure this row represents". But since he was helping Lay with math he was allowed to sit with them. Chen usually just slept right through, saying there was no hope anyways. Kyungsoo usually tried for twenty minutes to half an hour, but at some point even he stopped trying and took a nap. Lay on the other hand always tried, maybe not listening to the teacher, but looking into his books or finding resources online. But now, as soon as Suho was finished with whatever task they were supposed to do and since he was a straight a student that was fast, he tried helping Lay as much as possible. Lay took a long time to learn anything, let alone math, so whatever he did he still needed to be concerned about the question if Lay could somehow improve fast enough to pass the next round of exams. Midterms usually were held in late October, possibly beginning of November and Suho desperately hoped his efforts would have paid off by then.

"Look Lay, you are using the wrong formula, for this question you need to first set this part equals null," he tried to explain. Lay really didn't have any talent for mathematics, but that just made Suho more determined to somehow manage to make him pass somehow. There had to be a way right? Nobody could be that bad... Could he?

"Lay, are coming to the tutoring session in regards to the science tests next week we have after extra-curricular classes?" he asked quietly, so the teacher wouldn't notice. Not that he actually had to fear for that, the teacher was aware that he was only talking with the Chinese boy to help him with his studies, but he still didn't want to disrupt the lesson.

"Where do we meet?" Lay asked, having this innocent thankful look on his face that could melt anyone's heard.

"In the library," Suho replied smiling brightly at the other. A little brighter even than he usually smiled…

After the bell rang to indicate the lunch break had started and the teacher dismissed them on time for once, Suho, Chen, Kyungsoo and Lay made their way through the crowded corridors to the canteen, right at the entrance Suho spotted Luhan, who seemed to be searching something in his bag, but before he could say something Kyungsoo already ran up to him and said something. Suho decided to leave them and dragged Lay with him to the line for food, Chen would probably like always not buy anything. After a few minutes of sitting and eating, Lay to Suho’s right, Kris to his left, nearly everybody else from their group was present, Suho saw Luhan and Kyungsoo sitting cramped on a table with a few other former South-high students, seemingly in deep conversation, sharing Luhan’s plate of food. It struck him as odd that they didn't join the others at lunch, but he couldn't find a reason why anything would be wrong. So he had a closer look at his friends, Sehun looking a bit crushed, sitting with Jongin, also in conversation. He planned on confronting Luhan during their next class, they conveniently had together and in politics, they already sat next to each other so finding out what was going on shouldn't be that hard right? But on the other hand, the south high-kids were all really good at keeping secrets.

 

 

 

The football field was in the middle of the running track, surrounded by not a single tree. Since lunchbreak it was unbelievably hot, the noon sun burning on their skin and Mr Yi was not allowing umbrellas or anything. Not even water. They had to leave all their stuff, phones, water bottles and so on in the gym and spend the P.E. class under the burning sun in the summer heat. After warming up where they were obligated to run for ten minutes they split the class into teams of eleven to play soccer. Tao was in two teams because he was a good player, but also the class was just one person short of having enough people for four teams.

"Why does Mr Yi have to be such a fucking asshole all the time?" Kai asked Sehun while trying to shield himself from the sun. He was already fairly tan, his skin tanned easily and in Korea, tan skin is not a desirable treat.

"I don't know, sexually frustrated maybe," Sehun said, a classmate next to them also laughing a lot his comment.

"It's been fifteen minutes and I am already thirsty," one of their classmates Jungkook said sighing.

"Me too," Kai agreed. They usually had no problem with the sports teacher Mr Yi but he always believed that the new generation was not strong enough and tried to endure them by not allowing water or toilet break or any breaks for that matter, making the already rigorous exercise especially hard and making them sweat like dogs.

Three rounds of soccer later and Sehun was drenched in sweat, his shirt soaked and his hair sticking to his forehead. He pitied Tao a bit cause unlike him he basically played every single game, not getting any break at all. Kai was laying spread out on his back on the sideline gasping for air. He ran a lot in the last game and the heat was getting to him and nearly everybody on their team. At this point, nobody was talking, too exhausted from playing, trying to channel all their energy to get somehow through the next hour of class. Sehun realized Tao was getting significantly slower while running, rubbing his temples every now and then. He had to be absolutely exhausted at this point despite his usually good stamina. The heat and the sun was just too much.

Fifteen minutes later, Sehun had to play on Tao’s behalf because both teams he was playing with were playing against each other, it happened. Mid game Tao ran off the field to the trash cans on the side of the track field. Their teacher screamed something at him when he ran past him but he didn't react, reaching the trash cans and vomiting violently. Everybody just stared for a few seconds trying to grasp what exactly happened, when one of his teammates, another boy from south high, that Sehun had never seen talking to Tao ran up to him, rubbing his back. When Mr Yi finally managed to get out of his initial shock reaction he ran over to the boy, so did Sehun and most of his teammates.

"What's wrong Tao?" the teacher asked a mix of his usual authoritative commanding voice and a bit of concern. Tao meanwhile leaned with his back against the wall of the stadium ranks, sliding down slightly then giving up and plummeting down in a sitting position leaning against the wall, head resting against the cold stone. He was paler than he should be, his eyes were half closed but Sehun thought he saw them being more red than usual. No answer. Another question, Tao looked like he was about to black out, his teammate that initially ran over to him was kneeling next to him.

"Are you ok Tao?" Mr Yi asked this time louder and more annoyed.

"给我一下，没事，只一份钟，" (give me a moment, I'm fine, just one minute) he said, not noticing he was speaking Chinese, slurring words, making it barely understandable what language this even was, he looked up at his classmates standing there before him, his eyes red and his gaze not really focusing.

"Someone please go get the nurse," Mr Yi said, now an unreadable expression on his face. Sehun wanted to go, but another one of the south-high kids was faster, quickly running in the direction of the buildings. So Sehun stayed. Mr Yi crouched down to talk to Tao, but he at this point wasn't just speaking Chinese but slurring the words intensely, he even seemed to have trouble forming coherent sentences.

"Can someone please go get some water," Mr Yi ordered, his frown becoming deeper and the concern in his face now reaching his eyes. Another time a south-high kid was faster than Sehun, making him stay standing where he was with the feeling of being unhelpful. By this time everybody was standing on the tracking field eying Tao.

"Do you think we should go get Kris? He doesn't look capable enough to speak Korean," Kai whispered to Sehun, having elbowed his way through his classmates to get next to his best friend.

"Good idea," he answered, stepping to his teacher's side, asking: "Should we get another Chinese student? He looks too confused to speak Korean right now," he said as calmly as possible. In reality, he wanted to sprint to the classrooms and find one of the other Chinese students right away. There were seven of them, six of them from south-high, including Tao, Luhan and Lay, and Kris from SM-high of course. He didn't know the others but he knew their faces enough to recognize them in a classroom. Just a hand movement, waving him to go and he and Kai were on their way.

"Do you remember what classes the others have?" Sehun asked Kai.

"Nope, not a clue," he answered. So they decided to just look into every classroom on the floor until they found one of the Chinese students in one of them. That's what they did, knocked on every door, entering like they were, drenched in sweat, gasping for air after their sprinting, dirty clothes from playing soccer, but none of them cared at all. They had to find someone.

 

 

 

Right after Luhan sat down on his usual place in politics class to Suho’s right, the other said: "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

A frown made its way onto Luhan’s face when he answered: "Why does everyone need to talk to me all the sudden? What have I done wrong this time?"

"Why everyone?" Suho asked confused.

"Kris, Kyungsoo, now you...," he said, looking defeated.

"Oh," Suho mumbled, then saying: "I wanted to know what's going on between you and Kyungsoo. It looks like you guys are having crisis management meetings or something," he joked, actually making Luhan smile.

"Don't worry, nothing serious," he said.

"Then what is it about?" Suho asked. Luhan sounded genuine when he said that, so he hoped to finally get included into some of the south-high secrets going on. Luhan looked uncomfortable with the thought of telling to say the least but decided to do so anyway. He really wanted to befriend the other. He couldn't hang out with him all the time and let their relationship stay this hostile.

"Don't tell," he said, the other pretending to zip his mouth making Luhan smile again. He began to understand why he was one of the few school prefects and others talked with him about their problems. He was quite easy to talk to when the topic was light.

"It's about Sehun," Luhan mumbled defeated.

"What about him?" Suho asked right away, curiosity taking over.

"Kris told me he has a crush on me and Kyungsoo wants to know what I think of him and what I am planning to do about it." Suho’s face lightened up when getting this information. He propped his head onto his propped up elbows and waited for Luhan’s response.

"Do you like him?" Suho asked right away.

"I don't know, that's why this is so difficult," Luhan replied, nervously messing up his hair.

"What do you mean with you don't know?" Suho asked, how could you not know whether or not you had feelings for someone?

"I kinda like him, I like him a lot, but so do I Yixing, Tao and Kyungsoo," he said.

"So you just like him as a friend," Suho stated, a bit disappointed. His differences with the older aside he still wanted his friend to be happy and if that included Luhan than that was what he hoped for him.

"I feel like it's different," Luhan said quietly, as an answer he just got Suho to raise an eyebrow. "I don't like him like I do my friends, but I just don't know," he whined a bit. Suho was quiet for a moment, trying to come up with a good advice to give.

"Do you want him to be more than a friend?" he asked after a while. Luhan took his time replying what reassured Suho that he wasn't actually taking this situation lightly, not trying to play with anyone’s feelings here.

"If I’d want to, does that make me selfish?" the Chinese boy asked.

"No, but I think it means you have some feelings for him," the other replied.

"But still, it's not like I have a crush or anything like that," Luhan said looking unsure.

"Some people never get crushes like that, for some feelings always develop over time, why don't you just give it a shot?" Suho asked. He himself wasn't a person to get crushes easily. He would fall for people he knew well instead of falling for them early on, so he knew what he was talking about. Luhan stared at the table for a minute, then answering: "But I don't want to play with Sehun like that!"

Suho saw the concern but still wanted to encourage the other to go for it. Was there still a chance that Sehun would get heartbroken in the process? Yes, but at least there was also a chance it would turn out fine for them.

"Just be honest to him. Tell him what you feel and let him decide if he still wants to try or not," Suho said shoulder shrugging. Honesty wasn't the best trait of the south-high kids but maybe this could be a good start.

"Maybe," Luhan mumbled. That’s when they suddenly got interrupted by the teacher:

"Kim Junmyeon and Lu Han, the lesson started five minutes ago, could you please stop talking NOW or I will have to separate you both!"

"Sorry," both said at the same time, receiving an angry glance from the teacher, but both now paying attention to the class and the presentation about NATO and its role in international safety.

About half an hour passed by, Luhan was not listening to class anymore but playing with different possibilities in his head about what to do with the whole Sehun situation, till suddenly a knock on the door interrupted the class and without waiting for a response the door opened. In came a sweaty looking Kai, slightly out of breath, looking through the faces in class.

"What brings you here to interrupt my lesson?" the teacher asked anger and frustration was clearly audible in his voice. That’s when Kai spotted Luhan. His eyes widened a bit, and he answered: "I need to get Luhan."

"For what reason? He has another 45minutes of class left," the teacher asked.

"One student in sports basically collapsed, seems completely dazed and now is only speaking Chinese, so I am here to find someone who can understand what he is saying. And fast please," Kai said while still breathing far too quickly. Luhan got up, the teacher made a hand gesture for him to go. Suho just saw the two of them and Sehun running to the stadium through the window.

 

 

 

Luhan was a great runner Kai noticed while he, Sehun and the older boy were running back to the stadium. They were grateful to have found him so quickly. He was in the second class Kai went into, even though Kai was secretly hoping to find Kris, but he wouldn't complain, any Chinese student was good enough for the job. When they arrived Tao was barely conscious, more lying than sitting against the wall. Luhan was gasping for air but asked something in Chinese, getting an answer only after he repeated the question twice. The teacher eyed Luhan and asked:

"What does he say?" Luhan bit his lip and looked up, being crouched down next to his friend.

"You might wanna call an ambulance," he said unsurely. Mr Yi nodded, got his phone out and left the group to make a phone call while Sehun saw the nurse Mrs Park walking in their direction.

"That bad?" Kai asked concerned.

"He is barely understandable, he slurs the words quite badly and most of what he says is gibberish, to be honest, he sounds drunk. Maybe he has a head injury or something," Luhan suggested while trying to feel Tao’s forehead.

"That wouldn't make sense," Kai said confused, trying to recall what exactly happened. Mrs Park meanwhile had crossed the field and arrived at the group, making her way through the students. She crouched down next to Luhan, having a quick look at Tao and asking the other: "What happened to him?"

He shrugged his shoulders saying: "This isn't my class either." Kai quickly intervened by explaining: "He threw up while playing soccer, it got worse from there."

"How long has he been playing?" the nurse asked calmly.

"Half an hour or so, we were running before," Kai answered.

"Any chance he might be dehydrated?" she asked, getting a laugh from another classmate.

"We are not allowed to drink during class, so probably!" Jungkook said. She raised both her eyebrows, looking utterly displeased, but not saying anything till she asked Luhan:

"What does he say? He," gesturing to the student who ran to get her to come to the field in the first place. "Told me he isn't talking in Korean."

"He isn't really making much sense, he slurs the words quite intensely, so he's barely understandable. He said he'll be fine and don't worry and something like he needs a minute and then a bunch of barely understandable gibberish," Luhan explained, the concerned look on the nurses face just got worse.

"At this point, I would advise calling an ambulance," she said to Mr Yi, who just came back from making the phone call.

"I just did, what do you think is wrong with him?" he asked looking concerned.

"Heat stroke," she speculated, kneeling down next to Tao feeling his pulse. Luhan’s eyes grew wide, his expression terrified.

It took quite a while for the ambulance to arrive. To make the students stop standing around and starring Mr Yi ordered them to go shower. Sehun, Kai and three of the other south high students were allowed to stay, the rest left to go to the locker rooms to change, leaving with irritated, confused or concerned looks on their faces. One of them was sent to get the principal Mrs Kim, to inform her about what happened and why an ambulance was coming to the school.

The ambulance parked on the side of the road, three paramedics came to have a quick look at Tao and exchanged a few words with Mrs Park and Mr Yi, then got the stretcher from the ambulance. Tao at this point barely conscious, main reason for him still being semi-conscious was Luhan insisting to talk to him and engage him into conversations. The principal came right when the paramedics were lifting Tao onto the stretcher.

"Has somebody informed his parents yet?" she asked Mr Yi. He shook his head.

"His parents don't speak Korean, maybe I should do that," Luhan interrupted.

"Can I go with him?" he asked sheepishly. A moment of consideration until the principal took a deep breath and said: "Sure, go, love, I'll be at the hospital as fast as I can!"

Only one person was allowed to come with the ambulance, so Luhan quickly rushed over to get in. The paramedics looking to the principal who gave them a nod and they let the frail-looking Chinese boy sit on the passenger seat. Mr Yi sent Sehun and the other students to go shower while he Miss Park and Suho’s mother had a conversation. So that's what they did, they got to the locker room where the others were already going crazy with speculations


	9. Talks and conferences

"What the hell happened?“ Suho asked Kai when he passed him in the hallway, just getting out of class having fifteen minutes till extracurricular. With him Luhan’s bag and books, he never returned to class after leaving halfway through.

"Tao had a heat stroke or something like that, they took him to the hospital, Luhan went with him to translate just in case," Kai said, then adding: "Your mum is also driving to the hospital, so is Mr Yi so extracurricular Sports is cancelled!" Suho’s expression was nothing but pure shock. How the hell could this happen?

"How is Tao doing?“ he asked, Kai just shrugging his shoulders: "Haven't heard anything after he left with the ambulance. He looked miserable then!"

"I'll ask mum later, I text you on WhatsApp ok?“ the older replied.

"Sure. I'm on my way to dance, so, see you tomorrow I guess?“ he said, getting a nod from Suho, who then went on his way to cooking.

 

 

 

"Class is cancelled for today, we can either go home or wait in the canteen or library for our parents to pick us up,“ one of the students from grade one said loudly while standing on a chair in front of the locker room, trying to get everyone’s attention. "Why?" "How do you know?" and "Yeay,“ were screamed. Some students left as fast as possible, another group came, the student informed them of the same.

"What happened, why is class cancelled?“ Kris asked one of the younger students standing around. Apparently, the grade one students knew things he didn't.

"Tao from grade one had a heat stroke during sports earlier, Mr Yi, Miss Kim and one of the south high kids went to the hospital with him,“ he explained, looking intimidated by the older student towering over him.

"Tao? Huang Zitao from south high?“ he asked concerned.

"He is the only Tao I think,“ the other answered. Kris turned on his heel, pushing a few students out if his way while getting away from the crowd.

"Kyungsoo,“ he called out loudly, quickly walking over to the younger. "Extra-curricular is cancelled," he said, Kyungsoo looking up at him confused. "Apparently Tao is in the hospital for a heat stroke. I'll go visit him, do you want to join?“ Kris asked.

"Sure, what about Chen and Luhan?“ the owl-eyed Korean asked.

"If you see them, ask them," he said while getting out his phone. "Meanwhile I'll call Tao and ask what hospital he is in," the taller stated and scrolled through his iPhone to find Tao’s number. He had asked Tao for the number the day when Luhan had been sick and Tao’s parents had brought him home and right now he was glad he did. A few moments nobody answered, then a quiet: "喂" (yea)

“亦凡。你怎么了? Kyungsoo和我想见面，你在什么医院吗?“ (This is Kris. How are you? Kyungsoo and I wanted to visit you, what hospital are you in?) Kris asked.

"亦凡，这是鹿晗。韬真不好，但你们就想去我们在温三路的医院," (Kris, this is Luhan. Tao is really unwell, but if you still want to come, we are at the hospital in Wensan-road) Luhan whispered quietly, probably standing in a hallway somewhere trying to not get anybody’s attention.

"好的好的，我们到了的时候我给你发短信," (ok, I'll text you when we arrive) Kris said, getting an ok from Luhan, and then ending the phone call. In the meantime Chen had arrived, standing with Kyungsoo.

"What did he say?“ Soo asked.

"Luhan was on the phone, Tao is still unwell and he's in the hospital in Wensan-road. I'll go visit them, do you want to come with me?“ he asked, specifically to Chen, but also Kyungsoo even though he said he would earlier, but the hospital was quite far so he didn't want to pressure anyone to join.

"We can walk there, it’s like an hour or so," Chen said adding: "It's not like we have anything better to do. Just need to get my stuff to the locker!"

"Sure," Kris replied, looking up a map to the hospital on his phone. "We could take a bus, it only takes ten minutes," he suggested while walking next to Chen and Kyungsoo to their lockers. Kyungsoo looked uncomfortable, to say the least when Chen said: "I don't have any money with me right now, so I'd rather walk." Chen was, as always, so casual with everything, if Kyungsoo wasn't this uncomfortable Kris would have never had any suspicion, that there might be anything else behind their apparent liking of walking for an hour in 34° heat.

"I can lend you some," Kris offered casually. He used to lend money to Sehun frequently cause the younger used to forget to bring his wallet half the time in middle school and he still needed to buy lunch. "I'll just put it on my bus card, don't worry about the few dollars." Kyungsoo didn't say anything till they got to their lockers, where he got his bag and stored his sports clothes and some books inside. Kris saw him searching for something in his bag, counting some coins in his hand. That's when he remembered what Xiumin had said only a few days ago about privilege and how some families of the south high students were just getting by. A little spark of shame crossed his mind when he approached Kyungsoo.

"I'll pay for the bus, don't worry."

"No, it's fine, I...," he replied but got cut off by Kris: "No seriously, everything to not walk in this heat." The joke made the other a bit less awkward, and Kris really didn't mind paying the few bucks, instead of walking. But also, his parents paid the money on the bus card anyways. They would surely not mind, probably would not even notice, to begin with.

 

 

 

Suho took the bus to the hospital after finishing with the extracurricular activities for the day and half an hour of tutoring Baekhyun and Lay in the library. Chen and Kyungsoo hadn’t shown up so he assumed they were with Tao at the moment. His mom had sent him a message that she was still at the hospital so he had decided to meet her there and have a look at how Tao was doing. The bus was crammed with students trying to get home, but luckily it barely took twelve minutes to the bus stop closest to the hospital. He asked for Tao at the receptions and got a room number from the employee at the front desk. When he entered, Luhan and Chen were sitting on Tao’s bed to his left and right, Kris sat on a chair next to the bed and Kyungsoo to Tao’s feet. Tao himself seemed to be sleeping, an IV in his right arm.

"Hey Suho," Luhan greeted waving at him.

"Your stuff is in my locker, I'll give you all tomorrow ok?“ he said, remembering the bag and books he still had of Luhan’s.

"Don't worry. Mr Yi just left, I think your mum is outside calling the secretary at school to get the number of Tao’s parents," Luhan informed him. Suho sat down on another chair close to Kris, noticing his mother bad was placed under it.

"Is he better?“ Suho asked, scanning the younger up and down.

"Not really, the doctor said something about 24hours so I guess he will have to stay the night," Luhan explained, being the first to be there and obviously knowing the most because of it.

"Ok," Suho just said, getting his phone out to inform his friends about what was going on. He added Kai, Sehun, Baekhyun and Xiumin to the group, playing with the thought to give the group-chat a ridiculous name but didn't. Then wrote:

„Tao is apparently going to stay the night at the hospital, he's sleeping, but he is not looking good.”

He got answers quickly so instead of awkwardly waiting for his mum to come back he followed the conversation on the phone while Luhan and Kris discussed something in Chinese and Soo and Chen talked about some homework they had to do.

Baekhyun: “What the fuck even happened and why did nobody tell me?”

Sehun: “Tao collapsed during P.E. and an ambulance had to pick him up”

Baekhyun: “What? How did that happen?”

Kai: “Most likely a heat stroke. Mr Yi was not allowing drinks or umbrellas and we were out in the sun”

Sehun: “Also Tao had to play a lot”

Kai: “Yea, Mr Yi should have seen that one coming, he was practically asking for someone to collapse!”

Xiumin: “Finally I am not the only one dying in P.E. anymore ;)”

Kai: “Yea no, doesn't count!”

Xiumin: “Shut up and leave me my illusions!”

That's when Suho’s mother entered the room and he decided to put his phone away. "His parents are on the way,“ she said to all of them.

"How did you contact them? I thought his parents don't speak Korean," Luhan asked curiously.

"Mrs Chen called them," she simply stated. Mrs Chen was the teacher for Chinese in extracurricular. Letting her call the parents was a smart idea indeed.

 

Tao didn't wake up for another hour. His mother came at around seven o'clock, being a bit of a drama queen, panicking and speaking very fast Chinese with Luhan. At half-past seven, Kris called his parents to ask if they could pick him up from the hospital, now that Tao’s mother was there he felt a bit uncomfortable staying and they all needed to leave soon anyway.

"Are your parents coming to pick you up?“ Mrs Kim asked the south-high boys. She was sitting in Suho’s chair, he was sitting on her lap. Kris knew the relationship they had so this didn’t really seem that strange to him but Chen and Luhan couldn't help but tease Suho a bit about being a mommy's boy.

"I'll take the bus," Luhan stated.

"I'll walk," Kyungsoo uttered.

"Me too," Chen added. Another time Suho was reminded of the privilege he had compared to his classmates.

"I'll bring you," Mrs Kim offered, but Kyungsoo just said: "No need to, it's fine, we live quite far anyways!"

"No, I will bring you,“ she insisted and after a half-hearted back and forth the south high kids gave up and went with her and Suho to the shiny new car his mom was driving. Luhan and Kyungsoo gave her their addresses, Chen saying he lived close to Kyunsoo so they would simply get off at his house, insisting he would be fine. Luhan lived not too far away in a neighbourhood full of similar small houses standing close to each other. A quite average neighbourhood, mostly people in the lower middle class lived here. They dropped him off first, then getting to the other two. Their neighbourhood was not only far, but notorious for being close to the district with the highest street crime rate. A poor neighbourhood mostly full of big blocks with small apartments, not the worst neighbourhood to be in, but still. They dropped Kyungsoo and Chen off at a big house with tons of small apartments. Kyungsoo entered while Chen walked down the street, disappearing between two houses.

"So this is how they live," Suho’s mum said while starting the car again.

"It really is a different life the south high kids have," Suho mumbled.

 

 

 

Tao ended up staying in the hospital for the two days, getting released only on Thursday evening. Kris, Luhan and Yixing spend quite a lot of time accompanying him. Kris learned a lot about Tao while he was there; his parents were rich businessmen, both working for the Korean branch of one of Chinas biggest companies. Tao used to be in a private boarding school, but after "things happened" which were not further explained to him, his parents had decided to make him come with them to Korea. And that is how he ended up where he was, he came to Korea halfway through his last year of middle school, so he had only spent a few weeks in south high school till the schools were merged. Not that south-middle school was any better, to begin with. Kris didn't understand how his parents put him into such a terrible school when they surely had the option to get him into a great high school like SM. But Kris didn't ask further, even though he was wondering about it quite frequently.

 

 

 

Suho wasn't participating in Thursday's extracurricular activities, instead, he was sitting through a teachers conference as the student council president. Two other students were invited, both a year older than him, both also very involved with all student affairs. The conference involved every teacher with the exception of the ones currently teaching extra-curricular classes. The sports class was cancelled again, to make it able for Mr Yi to defend himself from the allegations made against him because that is what this conference is all about: The allegation of negligence and knowingly putting students in a dangerous situation.

Mr Yi wasn't a bad guy and Suho actually likes his teaching style, but even he had to admit that negligence had to be at play when prohibitable accidents like this happened. Jiyong, one of the other students here with Suho didn't look excited to be here.

"Do you think he will be fired for this?“ he whispered to Suho, knowing the other often had inside knowledge because his mother was the principal.

"He might get off with a warning, but this is serious stuff," Suho mumbled.

"Fuck, he is such a good teacher, I don't want him to go,“ Jiyong said.

"Me neither," Suho whispered. "Did the student not say anything? I can't believe Mr Yi would ignore a student feeling unwell,“ Jiyong asked.

"Probably not, Tao really doesn't talk ever, so I assume he just went on playing instead of talking to the teacher," the younger answered with a frown.

"But that is not Mr Yi's fault then,“ Jiyong argued. He was right but the whole thing about heat, no umbrellas and no water was reckless at best, so there was no way out of this for the middle-aged teacher. Suho noticed his mother being particularly serious today, maybe because she did have more knowledge about Tao’s health condition, maybe cause she knew the other teachers had a lot of sympathy for their college. She read out the statements the younger students had made about the incident, Sehun’s sticking out in particular because he had noticed Tao’s condition before he collapsed, but the other students didn't.

A lot of teachers argued in defence of the sports teacher and so did Jiyong, stressing that Tao did not say anything about feeling unwell. Miss Kim on the other had put a stress on how bad Tao’s condition had gotten and how long it had taken Mr Yi to call an ambulance or inform her about the situation. Commenting: "You had a phone to call an ambulance fifteen minutes after Tao broke down but send a student to inform me!"

"In all fairness, there was nobody to translate in the beginning,“ Suho argued, remembering Kai interrupting his class to get Luhan.

"An ambulance should have been called before a student,“ his mom stated annoyed.

"The Chinese students are always in trouble anyways,“ the teacher for biology said in a derogative tone. That set Suho’s mother off, completely forgetting about Mr Yi and the conference.

"This is not only a generalized statement but also racist, disrespectful and unprofessional. I will issue an official warning if I ever hear a statement like that ever again,“ she threatened, getting more and more enraged with every word.

"But it is true,“ one of the Korean teachers chimed in. "I have three of the Chinese students and they are all a mess, their exams were horrendous and they aren't even getting better!"

"That is true,“ the teacher for history agreed. "Their exams are horrendous and they are always seeking trouble! Tao in specific hasn't done his homework a single time since he came, not once!"

"He never talks, never does his homework and he handed a blank sheet in during exams. He didn't even try! Not a single word other than his name,“ the politics teacher began ranting.

"I've never had any troubles with him, his homework is always good, always on time, he hasn't forgotten it once,“ one of the English teachers said in Tao’s defence.

"He never answers any questions and seems distracted in class, but he always has his homework and if I let him do things at the board it’s always correct. His exams were good, I don't even know what you’re talking about,“ one of the math teachers added. Suho and Jiyong looked at each other confused. Having different impressions of a person was one thing, but this nearly seemed like they were talking about a different person.

"Cut it out, this isn't about Tao’s academic achievements, this is about him having to go to the hospital for preventable sickness,“ Misses Kim said loudly.

"No this is about him; every other student would have been able to open his mouth and tell somebody he was feeling sick,“ another teacher said, Suho didn't know him, maybe he was teaching geography, but he was unsure.

"This isn't about Tao! You all can be so glad his parents are not going to sue because if they would, we wouldn't even have this discussion! This was reckless negligence,“ Miss Kim interrupted. At this point she was furious.

"They won't sue?“ Mr Yi asked. It was the first time he had said anything in this discussion.

"No they won't, school insurance will cover the hospital bills; they do not seek revenge or anything. You are so lucky that Tao’s family is so forgiving with your actions,“ she nearly screamed. Suho was still trying to make sense of the whole situation. Being shy was one thing, but Tao... There had to be something wrong with him. This wasn't normal anymore. This must be one of those annoying secrets the south-high kids always guarded like a treasure; one of those no one would dare to talk about. But this time Suho was determined to find out what was going on. How could a person have two sides to himself? This almost seemed like two different people. Being good and bad at a subject was one thing but this... This intrigued him. He would find out what was going on, whatever it took.

 

 

 

Tao was back in school on Friday, Baekhyun saw him walking past while he hurried to get to physics on time. The physics rooms were in the basement of the main building. Today was last preparations for the test on Tuesday and Baekhyun already didn't want to go. He was prepared, that wasn't the problem, he had spent a few hours learning with Suho, Chanyeol, Luhan, Yixing, Kyungsoo and Chen, Suho tutoring them mainly out of pity and to save the reputation of the school from their terrible grades. Physics wasn't really that bad. Baekhyun usually managed to pass; Chemistry, on the other hand, was a disaster. His only comfort was that most south-high students were worse than him, so his miserable grade would at least be shared with a few classmates. Baekhyun slipped into the seat next to Chanyeol, quite far in the back of the classroom. Chanyeols grades weren't that bad either, so he didn't really have anything to worry about, but today he looked troubled anyways.

"What's wrong?“ Baekhyun whispered. He hated seeing the tall boy with anything but his usual smile or awkwardness.

"Nothing," he mumbled.

"You mum again?“ he asked quietly, gaining a quiet nod. "What happened?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary, not worth mentioning," the other replied, but the crushed look on his face told Baekhyun otherwise. He decided to not ask any further, Chanyeol apparently didn't want to tell, but that left a bitter feeling in Baekhyun’s mouth, that he couldn't shake off.

 

 

 

"What are your plans for the weekend?“ Xiumin asked Chen as soon as he sat down on his place next to the older in politics. He was early for once, nearly ten minutes left until the lesson would start.

"Getting too drunk to remember it,“ Chen said with a smirk, Xiumin just raised both eyebrows. "So Tao invited Luhan and Yixing over, then I got invited, then Soo, then Chanyeol, so now this is going to be the usual South-high shit-show,“ he said happily.

"I really don't think you should drink alcohol," Xiumin sighed, Chen just rolling his eyes.

"I'll remember that when I am complaining about my hangover on Sunday!"

"I am serious Chen, alcohol is not good for you,“ Xiumin insisted but again, just a shrug from the other.

"What doesn't kill me makes me stronger!"

Xiumin sighed: "Next week you'll come over to mine and make better life choices!"

Now it was Chen to sigh. "What do your friends think about that idea?"

"I only need to convince Kai, his house, his rules,“ Xiumin shrugged.

"So I need to piss him off before...," Chen joked, getting elbowed by the older. "Seriously, please invite someone else from south-high too, you guys are too much SM-high for me to handle alone!!"

"Fuck off,“ Xiumin said smiling brightly.

"Maybe Luhan or Kyungsoo?“ he asked trying to be cute by blinking at Xiumin.

"Shut up you'll be fine,“ the other replied again, Chen pouting. "Stop it, Chen,“ Xiumin said pinching the youngers cheeks. "Are you at least coming for bubble tea with me after Chinese?“ he asked with a bright smile, quickly adding: "My treat obviously!" He needed to wait for a second for wide-eyed, slightly surprised Chen to remember how to speak.

"Sure," he uttered, gaining a bright smile from his Hyung.

 

 

 

Kyungsoo sat next to Luhan during Lunch break, all the South-high students were crammed together as if discussing something. Kai gave Sehun a confused look, making the other shrug his shoulders. Whatever was going on, probably nobody would tell them anyway. Luhan looked up when the younger guys sat down. He was crammed between Kyungsoo and Yixing, his head resting on Yixing’s shoulder. It bothered Sehun ever so slightly, but he needed to push those feelings down, he wasn't allowed to get jealous, Luhan could cuddle with whoever he wanted to, right?

"Can I talk to you after Chinese, Sehun?“ Luhan asked, without even a greeting.

"Sure, something wrong?“ he asked back, unsure if there was something, he hoped not. He hadn't really talked to Luhan since Monday, it was as if the older was trying to avoid him, sitting with Chen at Tao’s spot in Chinese, not sitting with him during lunch. But the pretty boy with the light brown hair just shook his head and gave him a half-hearted smile.

"Don't worry, nothing really. How about bubble tea?“ he asked, Sehun’s face visibly lighting up.

"Sure," he replied.

"What are you guys doing over there? Planning a murder?“ Kai asked jokingly.

"We are having a party, sleepover, whatever at Tao’s on Saturday and we are planning some things," Luhan said smiling.

"It's gonna be lit,“ Chen interrupted grinning mischievously. Luhan shrugged and rolled his eyes, then turning his attention back to mostly Chen and Chanyeol to plan whatever sleepover party or what they were having.

"What do you think Luhan wants to talk to me about?“ Sehun asked Jongin while eating, making sure Luhan couldn't hear him.

"No idea to be honest, did you do something weird last time you guys talked?“ his friend asked, trying to understand the others reasoning.

"Not that I know of," Sehun answered.

"Then don't worry, maybe it’s really nothing,“ Kai said trying to be uplifting.

"Maybe...," Sehun replied unconvinced.

 

Luhan was sitting with Sehun again in Chinese class, but seemingly a bit further away from him than usual, no head resting on his shoulder. He noticed Luhan feeling his forehead once or twice, striking him as odd.

"You ok?“ he asked when they finally were getting to the intermediate part of the class or in his case, the part he was doing exercises instead of having to listen to the teacher.

"Don't know, I'm feeling a bit uneasy," he mumbled. Without really thinking Sehun reached over to feel his forehead.

"Seems normal," he said, removing his hand and reorganizing Luhan’s bangs.

"Maybe just nerves," he mumbled, making Sehun wonder what on earth he was nervous about. He noticed Luhan moved a bit closer to him while having a look at his paper. "That character is wrong," he said, drawing the right one next to his with a pencil.

"Thanks," Sehun mumbled, feeling the butterflies in his stomach when Luhan rested his head on his shoulder like he usually did.

"And 3a is wrong, check the question again,“ he added, his hair tickling Sehun’s cheeks when he moved. The younger enjoyed smelling Luhan’s sent while he was so close. His crush was getting out of hand, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.

 

Sehun accompanied Luhan to his locker, being nowhere close to his own and patiently waited for his friend to place some things inside and stuff some books in the bag he was taking home with him.

"Ok, let's go,“ he said after slamming the locker door shut. He appeared to be nervous, not easing Sehun’s slight suspicion that something was going on. They went to a small bubble tea shop, got some chocolate teas and sat in the corner of the room, mostly out of sight of other customers. Luhan took a deep breath before starting what he wanted to say. Now even Sehun was feeling nervous. Luhan didn't really know how to start and what to say even though he was planning it since Tuesday.

"I had a talk with Kris on Monday," he started, realizing how random it sounded. Sehun looked confused, dipping his head ever so slightly to the side: "He told me you have a crush on me and told me to stop playing with your feelings," he told, watching the others reaction closely. A moment of silence, then a disappointed sounding: "Oh."

"And then Kyungsoo came to me to talk about you," he continued, "I even talked to Suho about you," he added, watching the others reaction. His facial expression went from disappointed to crushed to confused within seconds. Before he could ask anything Luhan quickly continued, now staring at the table instead of his friend.

"Soo asked me what I feel for you, if you're like a brother to me like Yixing and Tao or if this is something else...," he said, getting interrupted by Sehun: "Do you?" Luhan took a deep breath; seeing the others crushed expression really did do something for him. He just wanted to reach out and caress his face, telling him everything would be fine, but this wasn't what this was all about, so he had to focus on his mission.

"Honestly?“ he asked, watching Sehun as he failed to look neutral: "I don't know."

Sehun looked at him, hurt but also confused: "How can you not know?"

A moment of silence till Luhan answered: "I never had a crush, not once." Sehun looked confused so Luhan continued: "So I talked with Suho, and he said some people don't work that way, some people don't just have crushes. I believe feelings develop over time, not just like this you know?" Sehun nodded, actually looking like he understood what the older just explained to him.

"And I really don't want to hurt you or play with you,“ Luhan muttered quietly. "Cause I do have feelings for you, I just don't know if this is enough," he mumbled. He could see Sehun’s eyes widen, his face lighting up.

"You do?“ he asked hesitantly.

"Kinda, there is something there I can't deny, but I am not sure yet," he mumbled, keeping his head lowered, hiding from Sehun’s gaze. A few moments of nothing but silence followed his confession.

"So, that's what I wanted to tell you," he said, still not looking up.

"And what are we going to do now?“ the younger asked with hesitation.

"Whatever is best for you," Luhan muttered quietly.

"And what should that be?“ the younger questioned.

"There are three options, we can either stay the way we are, just friends or we can kick this down before it gets bigger and separate ties for a while," Luhan suggested, Sehun already knowing what he wanted, he couldn't just let Luhan out of his life like this; This wasn't an option, it just wasn't!

"Or," he continued, reminding him there was still whatever third there was: "Or we can have a try," Luhan said looking up.

"Try what?“ Sehun asked perplex.

"Try dating, find out if what I feel is real and either end up happy or broken-hearted," Luhan answered, looking for an answer in Sehun’s surprised face. "You shouldn't decide it now," he stressed. "Think about it, weigh the pros and cons, and tell me Monday."

With that Luhan got up, grabbing his bag and the rest of his bubble tea. A light smile was on his lips when he said: "So, see you on Monday?" Sehun caught the questioning tone in Luhan’s voice, answering: "Sure."

"Have a great weekend,“ Luhan said giving him another smile before leaving quickly, noticing Chen and Xiumin in another part of the shop, not visible from the place Luhan was sitting at before. They looked comfortable, occupied with themselves in deep conversation. Luhan envied the way they were looking at each other, feeling a slight sting in his heart, he wanted this too. He really did want something like this. He averted his gaze and stepped into the heated weather outside, quickly getting to the bus stop to finally get home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it ^-^  
> See you soon  
> XOXO


	10. punches and cuts

"So what are you going to do?" Jongin asked leaning back on the sofa. Sehun had just spent a few minutes explaining in detail what was going on or not going on between him and Luhan, Xiumin pressing him on details like no other. It was Saturday evening and they were all at Suho’s house, waiting for his mother to finish cooking.

"I don't know," he replied.

"Fuck off, you do! Or let me rephrase, what do you want to do?" Jongin said. A moment of silence, till Kai said what everybody was thinking: "Oh, fuck off, you want to take the risk and try, I know you Oh Sehun! Stop denying it to yourself!"

Sehun looked around the room, examining the others faces; nobody looked shocked in any way. "Do you think I should?" he carefully asked.

"We can't stop you," Kris said.

"That's not what I'm asking for," Sehun mumbled.

Kris took a deep breath, then said: "If you want it, do it! You don't need our approval!" Sehun didn't reply anything for a moment when Xiumin said: "You either do it or I will not comfort you when somebody else takes Luhan instead!" Eye-rolling in response but Xiumin quickly defended his statement: "Just in this room, we have 5 people who at some point said they are attracted to him, do you really think nobody else will want to take the risk? Do it or I will have no sympathy for broken hearts!"

"Xiumin has a point," Suho added diplomatically.

"Really? You are encouraging me to date Luhan? I thought you don't like him," Sehun questioned irritated.

"I want what's best for you and besides, we are getting along better than before," Suho stated shoulder shrugging.

"So you are ok with that?" Sehun questioned insecurely.

"I like him, he's always welcomed at my home and besides, my mom likes him so he can't be that bad," Xiumin said referencing his mother often correct intuition about people.

"I ship it," Baekhyun said cheekily. Sehun knew about Jongin’s opinion anyway, he wanted Luhan and Sehun to get together even more than anyone, but even rational Kris and Suho being on his side made him question his own judgment. He was so sure Suho and Kris would be against it, he had prepared himself for the persuading they would surely do for the whole day, but not even an attempt followed. Nothing.

"So you will tell him you'll try on Monday?" Xiumin asked grinning. Sehun just nodded, making the older squeal: "Maknae is in love, Maknae has a boyfriend." Sehun sighed: "Stop it or I'll change my mind!"

"You won't cause you in way too deep," Xiumin laughed.

 

 

 

"Don't be such a bitch, down it," Chen yelled at Kyungsoo who spend definitely too much time eyeing his shot glass. They were in a park close to Taos home, sitting on two park benches, one of them they moved themselves. Yixing and Chanyeol had organized the alcohol, nobody knew how and nobody asked. Most of them have had a miserable week and getting drunk was a great way to numb the pain or at least replace it with the disgusting aftertaste of vodka and tequila. Tao's parents didn't know about the drinking. They wouldn't come back to his house till they were asleep so the youngest of them wouldn't get in trouble. He himself wasn't drinking, at least not much. Chen had convinced him to try one shot of vodka and one of tequila, just to try, but after that, he stopped drinking, whereas the others were just warming up. Well, everyone but Luhan; the oldest wasn't drinking any liquor, he never did. In this case, his strict upbringing was for once a good thing.

"Down it, down it," Chen cheered when Chanyeol downed three shot in a row. At this point, Chen was already quite drunk, but Chanyeol was taking the lead today, downing shot after shot, drinking with everyone without missing a single one.

"What if somebody calls the cops on us?" Luhan asked concerned. This wasn't like the neighbourhood the South-high parties usually took place, in places nobody saw and nobody cared, this was an upper-class neighbourhood, surrounded by big houses with huge gardens and pools.

"You're sober, you got nothing to worry about," Chen said loudly, obviously too drunk to understand how loud he was. Luhan’s nerves weren't calmed at all. Sure he wasn't drunk but what if the cops would just take them all? He couldn't get into trouble again! The sun had just gotten down, it was maybe ten o'clock or something and there he was, in the middle of five drunken underage boys. Sure, he was underage himself, but being the oldest the cops would probably be harder on him. Not as hard as his father though...

Approximately two shots each later, Tao still not drinking, he luckily took the two shots he had like a champ, not acting drunk in the slightest, Chanyeol was wasted out of his mind and so was Kyungsoo. Chen was drunk too, but he had his body functions more in control than his classmates. Yixing was wasted as well, still nothing against Chanyeol and Soo.

"You know what we should do?" Chen asked the others.

"No, what?" Yixing giggled for absolutely no reason.

"We should have a look at all those posh houses," Chen said.

"No we shouldn't," Luhan automatically said, this was just going to get them in trouble and unlike Chen, he had somebody to get mad at him.

"Let's go," Chanyeol shouted, loud enough to be heard around the whole neighbourhood.

"I am so done," Luhan mumbled to himself, only getting up to follow his friends, who all were running down the street the park bordered to. Before he could even catch up to them, he already knew he was in trouble. Too drunk to think straight Chanyeol and too drunk to walk straight Kyungsoo had both decided to climb a fence. Luhan was horrified, but also surprised Kyungsoo and Chanyeol could even do this in their current condition. Chen jumped the fence with no trouble at all, running around the house screaming something about the others having to take a look too. The house was completely dark, giving Luhan hope they wouldn’t be caught, but the houses next to it all didn't seem to be empty at the moment. Yixing had already climbed the fence and ran out of sight, most likely behind the house in the back garden. Tao just shrugged before climbing the fence also.

"I hate my life," Luhan muttered before following his friends, praying to every deity he knew they wouldn't get caught while climbing the fence. 'Why on earth did he have such friends? Why couldn't he just be friends with boring nerds?' Luhan questioned himself but then remembered boring nerds like Suho hated him, so that wasn't a valid option for now.

The garden was big and beautiful, a luxurious round pool in the middle, a lot of beautiful fruit trees, the grass was evenly trimmed, flowers neatly placed at the sides.

"Guys, come back, please! We shouldn't be here," Luhan said as loudly as needed but as calmly as possible. This whole situation made him nervous. This was illegal! They could get into so much trouble for this!

"Look at the pool," Chen said way too loudly crouching down next to it feeling the water with one hand. Chanyeol was at the back door of the house, peeking inside.

"Whoa, look at that thingy," he nearly screamed, slurring words. Yixing climbed the few steps that lead up to the back door and looked at what drunk Chanyeol meant.

"How do you call that in Korean?" he asked fascinated.

"That is a harp," Chanyeol proclaimed.

"And this is illegal so can we please leave," Luhan urged.

"看，如果一个人来我们都去哪里，爬这个篱笆，很快逃了! (Look, if somebody comes we just go there, climb that fence and we will escape quickly!)," Tao said reassuringly. He didn't look quite comfortable either.

"但他们都太醉了不能跑步! (But the others are all too drunk to run!)," Luhan reminded the Maknae of the group.

"他们的问题，不是我们的。你肯定应该逃得快，我的妈妈爸爸刑罚不坏，但你 反之应该跑得快马加鞭! 至于我们你应该不担心! (That is their problem, not ours! You should definitely escape fast. My parents’ punishment won't be bad, but you should run as fast as possible. Don't worry about us! )," Tao said squeezing Luhan’s shoulder reassuringly. He didn't want anyone getting into trouble, but the younger was right if shit hit the fan he needed to think about himself this time. Tao went to Kyungsoo who was vomiting behind one of the trees and rubbed his back trying to make the other feel better when Luhan suddenly saw something concerning. A few flashlights in the dark coming right at them.

"Fuck," he said out loud. Chen was the first to notice and because he was way too drunk he, instead of calmly hiding, screamed: "Run!"

That's when the figures in the dark also started running in their direction. Tao was the first to jump the fence as if he was running hurdles. Luhan was running in the direction too, but so were Chen, Yixing and Kyungsoo. Chanyeol way too drunk to realize the danger coming from the street in their direction. Chen, Yixing and Luhan ran into each other at the pool, Yixing slipping on the stone floor, crashing hard to the floor, his arms flaring through the air accidentally hitting Luhan, who also lost balance, but instead of the stone plastered floor, he fell sideways, landing with a huge splash right in the pool.

He hoped the water wasn't deep, maybe he could stand or jump up for air but his feet couldn't find any ground. His arms flaring around like crazy, trying to find something to hold onto, but the blank wall didn't help his attempts to get up. His struggle continued and there was no Sehun to pull him out this time. Helplessly struggling, his clothes weighing him down, he gave up, hoping for a quick death. There was nobody to get him out of this. Yixing couldn't swim either, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo too drunk to do so at this point. He believed to have seen Chen climb the fence so he was probably already out of sight. So with a bitter thought of all the things he still wanted to experience in life he gave up into his need for oxygen, breathing in a huge amount of water. He had hoped for a peaceful death but the burning of water and chlorine in his lounges was painful, to say the least, but quickly he felt dizziness overcome his body and his struggling become far less powerful until finally, he felt himself falling asleep.

 

He didn't know what happened but suddenly his eyes flashed open and he coughed violently, hunching over to spit a bunch of water out. Air filling his lungs. Wait a second, air? What was going on? Luhan looked around, his vision blurry and his small figure still shaking from the lack of oxygen and the violent coughs. More water was spat out. His vision cleared ever so slightly, but his eyes were watery from coughing so it was still hard to comprehend what was going on. He saw somebody sitting next to him, rubbing his back, but there were more people.

The pool was close to him, but he was sitting on the grass, not the plastered space around the swimming pool. His coughing was finally getting better and his vision and head cleared a bit. Someone must have pulled him out of the pool. He looked around, now actually seeing what was going on. The person sitting next to him seemed familiar, but his clouded mind didn't recognize her right away. There was flashing blue light in the distance by the street, probably a police car. Looking closer he saw two policemen, one of them guiding a barely standing Chanyeol away from the garden to the street. Luhan noticed his friends' hands were in handcuffs, Yixing was nowhere to be seen, maybe he had made it to the fence in spite of his fall. Kyungsoo, on the other hand, was sitting on the ground, handcuffed, a cop holding something to his face. It took Luhan a moment to understand what this was: A utensil to measure blood alcohol level.

There were two more people in the garden other than the two cops and the woman still caressing his back by rubbing in circles. It took only one look and Luhan understood what this was. In a corner, close to the cop by Kyungsoo was Suho, arms crossed looking absolutely appalled and next to the pool, completely soaked with water was Kris, looking over to Luhan a mixture of concern and anger in his eyes. He must have been the one to pull him out, being the only one in any way wet. That's when Luhan remembered who the person to his right was, sheer terror, running through his veins, mixing with all the adrenaline already there. It was their principal, Suho's mother Mrs Kim. He remembered Xiumin mentioning they had a sleepover at Suho's house tonight, so of all the houses to choose from, they must have chosen one close to Suho's. His luck was really unbelievable!

His breathing normalized a little by the time the policeman arresting Chanyeol game back, but this time without Chanyeol and aiming for the shaking Chinese boy. There was another man with him Luhan noticed, but he didn't look like a cop, neither did he seem familiar in any way. He was wearing dark clothes walking right next to the policeman straight to him.

"He is conscious again," the policeman said and Luhan thought he heard some form of relief in his voice. Both of the men couched down next to Luhan, who was sitting on the ground and didn't think he even had enough energy in his body to be able to get up. The policeman ordered him to blow into one of those alcohol measuring machines and Luhan followed no point in protesting. It took him two tries to gather enough air and energy to even be able to blow into the machine.

"Zero point Zero," the policeman stated after having a look at the result. "Interesting how the only person, not drunk was the one drowning," he said out loud.

"Well, that can happen, maybe it was panic or the clothes weighing him down," the other man said, Luhan figured he must be a paramedic, cause he shined the flashlight in his eyes, afterwards grabbing his hand and feeling for his pulse.

"Is he also a student?" the policeman asked Miss Kim next to Luhan.

"Yes, he is in grade two," she answered, the tone of her voice unreadable.

"Doesn't look like high-school, more like middle school," the paramedic said jokingly.

"How old?" the policeman asked.

"I'm seventeen," Luhan said quietly, not enough energy to even raise his voice. His current condition was embarrassing, to say the least.

"So another minor," the policeman said scornful, there was nothing Luhan could come up with to reply. Of course, the policeman would be disregardful to their actions, he just caught three minors, two of them with high blood alcohol levels, climbing a fence and entering private property illegally.

"Drugs?" the cop said with a questioning tone, Luhan starting to answer when he was cut off by the paramedic saying: "Don't think so." Oh right, that question wasn't meant for him to answer in the first place...

"Sure?" the cop questioned.

"There is no sign for it," the paramedic said flashing his flashlight into Luhan’s eyes again.

"Why did you fall into the pool?" the cop asked Luhan for once.

"I slipped," he said, just in case Yixing actually made it out.

"Why didn't you just swim?" the cop asked, his voice full of disregard.

"I can't swim," he answered truthfully. He saw the cop raising both eyebrows, of course, here in Korea swimming lessons were a mandatory part of primary school education.

"Are you from this city or did you move here?" the policeman interrogated further, maybe trying to find out what school was disregarding teaching plans and apparently didn't bother to teach swimming.

"I'm not from here," Luhan said weakly. Talking was straining to him, still feeling light-headed from all the coughing.

"Where are you from?" the cop continued.

"Beijing," the skinny boy answered. He could see in his face how he slowly pieced the puzzle back together.

"So you are Chinese?" he asked.

"Yes, sir."

"You don't have an accent," he stated as if that would refuse the claim completely.

"I came here in middle school," Luhan defended himself.

"So what is this, four years? I don't buy that," he said disregarding.

Luhan’s mushy head was thinking fast, he didn't want a cop thinking he was lying, he already had more than enough problems on his hands than he needed, so he did the only thing his clouded mind could come up with to prove his claims: "我叫鹿晗，来了北京，我的母语是汉语但我四年以前搬了韩国所以我学了韩语，因为我用韩语每天我的韩语形成流利很快. (My name as Luhan, I'm from Beijing, my mother tongue is Chinese, but I came to Korea four years ago and learned to speak Korean, cause I needed to use Korean on a daily basis my Korean so was fluent quite quickly.)"

A confused look from the cop and paramedic, till Miss Kim decided it was a good moment to speak: "He is speaking the truth, as far as I am informed his family is from China." The cop simply nodded and said something to the paramedic. Miss Kim was still rubbing Luhan's back, by the looks in her eyes she was utterly displeased by this situation, but she was covering it quite well, keeping Luhan calm and comforted.

"How are you feeling?" the paramedic asked: "Dizzy? Weak? Do you need to vomit?"

"Yes, yes and no," he answered weakly. The cop looked at the paramedic questioning, the other answering: "He can go home, it doesn't seem like he needs to visit the A&E."

Luhan forgot how to breathe for a second, they would bring him home. He would be brought home by the cops! How was he supposed to survive that? Miss Kim next to him noticed he was tensing up, but she didn't seem bothered by it, probably hoped for him to get punished, why wouldn't she? There had to be consequences to behaviour like his and as she hoped for, Luhan would get to feel the full force of the punishment.

The paramedic was the one to help him up, his legs still not fully supporting his weight and afterwards guiding him to the police car. He was put into the back seat of the car, with the now sleeping Chanyeol in the middle and absolutely wasted Kyungsoo to Chanyeol’s right. The cop he hadn't spoken to yet asked for his address and cause there was no point in lying anymore he gave it to him, already mentally preparing for the worst. They dropped off Chanyeol first, pulling him outside, ringing the doorbell. Luhan could see his mother coming out, looking sleepy; he could see the cops talking to her, probably explaining the situation. He could see her face, the anger and disgust, before she roughly grabbed her son and pulled him inside, thanking the policeman, who came straight back to the car.

"One down two to go," the cop driving said. It was the one Luhan hadn't talked to earlier. He was the next to be taken home, but he wasn't ready yet, not prepared for the things to come.

They pulled up on the driveway next to his house, parked the car and the cop who he had already talked to got out and pulled Luhan out of the car; the doors were not able to be opened from the inside. Luhan was feeling weak on his legs, feeling miserable not only physically but the fear about what was going to come was making the adrenaline run wild. It took a while till his father opened the door, a surprised look on his face when he saw the policeman.

"Your son had been caught illegally entering private property with a group of drunken minors. Because he is a minor himself and not intoxicated we will not press charges against him, but we hope there will be an appropriate punishment for such behaviour," the policeman explained.

His father was glaring at his pretty son, then smiling to the police officer: "I am very sorry for my son's behaviour. This doesn't reflect his upbringing in any way and I can guarantee he will be punished for this. Again, I am so sorry for his behaviour." He sounded so loveable and honest, Luhan would believe him if he didn't know what he was capable of behind closed doors.

"Don't worry sir. Your son was the only person in the group not intoxicated so your upbringing was probably not at fault, to blame is most likely peer pressure and bad friends. I would keep an eye on the people he hangs out with," the cop suggested. His father was smiling, pulling Luhan gently inside, an arm around his shoulder.

"I will sir, I will," he guaranteed. They stood in the exact place watching the police car leave. When the lights finally disappeared in the dark his father pulled him inside and closed the door.

 

The first punch threw him directly against the door, the handle smashing into his side. Then familiar hands grabbed him by his shirt and pushed him forwards a knee kicking his stomach, just to slam him back against the wall. His head hit the wood of the door; quickly he was spun around and slammed to the ground. A hard kick against his chest left Luhan breathless only for a kick against the side of his head to make him see stars. A moment of nothing, he nearly thought it was over, but this was only the calm before the storm if you will. A hand around his neck pulled him up.

His father was only a bit taller than him but weighed probably more than double of his skinny son weight. Luhan’s back was pressed against the wall, the hand around his throat tightening. He was panicking, for the second time today he couldn't breathe. He gripped the hand chocking him but no amount of pulling punching or scratching would make his father let go of him. It was only just before blacking out, when finally his father dropped him, he was gasping for air, but a few breaths after he was recaptured, again a hand on his throat tightening.

"You will never do this again will you son?" his father asked, looking him dead in the eye. He couldn't speak or shake his head, not a single noise would come out of his mouth, no air was going in or out. He could feel the side of his head bleeding where his dad had kicked him; Warm liquid running down his head, colouring his light brown hair red. Again Luhan believed he was going to black out but his dad suddenly let go of him completely. He sank to the ground holding his throat desperately trying to breathe.

"This will never happen again will it Luhan?" his dad asked again, his voice so icy Luhan felt a shiver run down his spine.

"No, of course not," he whimpered, his voice unusually high, breaking mid-word.

"Good," his father said. Luhan hoped that would be it, that his father would just leave him there sitting at the ground sobbing, but another kick hit the side of his neck, making him fall sideways to the ground. Two more kicks hit him, but luckily not another one against his head. The kicks were aimed at his torso this time, the shoe slamming into his soft flesh. After another three-four kicks his father left him lying and sobbing on the floor, entering the living room and slamming the door shut. With no energy left the small Chinese boy just kept on lying on the floor, quietly sobbing and holding the bloody head wound, at some point blacking out at the spot he was left at.

 

 

 

Kris left Suho’s house around noon, but unlike his friends, he wasn't heading back home yet. Instead, his way led him to one of the sketchiest places in town, looking innocent at daylight, but at night-time, the streets would be filled with illegal gambling, illegal prostitution, drug dealers and gangs. The police were patrolling as often as possible but this district would always be notorious for drug-related murder and tons of prostitution. This was literally the last place Kris wanted to be, only once had he accidentally wandered into this district and he wasn't treated kindly. He had never thought about where the children living in this district would go to school, he never even thought there were any, to begin with, but not even he could deny there had to be some. Not many though. And as he now knew, those handful of kids with the burden of living here, were all kids of south-high and south-middle school.

Lay was waiting for him by the entrance of an old house, looking like it was only barely holding together. The walls were dark, nobody bothered to paint them in years so they were tainted by dirt. Kris was motioning to leave his mountain bike at the entrance, but Lay stopped him: "You can't leave it here, it's going to be stolen!"

So he had to carry the bike four storeys into the attic of the building, through stairways full of dirt and grey wallpapers that probably stemmed from when the house was built a few decades ago, coming off at the sides. There were two apartments in the attic, the heat up here was killing Kris, but Lay took it like he was used to it, frankly, he probably was.

Kris left his bike in the small hallway of the apartment. In here it was just as miserable as outside but significantly cleaner. The walls were grey and without pictures or other kinds of decoration. Shoes were lying in the hallway, an old pair of women's shoes, some that looked like they belonged to Yixing and a bunch of high heels, stilettos that looked like they belonged in a bordello of some sort, mostly black and red in colour, the material cheap. They passed three rooms on their way to the last room on the hallway, 艺兴(Lays Chinese name) written on the door.

The room was a lot nicer than Kris had expected, judging by the other parts of the house he had already seen. The walls were painted in white, with the exception of the biggest one, which was a vibrant green. Yixing barely had any furniture but his bed looked comfortable so did the one chair in the room. There was also a table and a closet, none of the pieces matched, but they still made a better room than anything in this house Kris had seen so far. A few photos were stuck at one of the white walls. Kris took a closer look, a lot of pictures of Luhan or Yixing and Luhan together. A few included other people, another Chinese student, Kris had seen him before, he was in grade three, Kris was unsure but believed his name was Jackson. A guy he didn't know was included in a few pictures, he was tall and looked older than him. And there were a few pictures with a woman Kris believed to be Lays mom. Her hair bleached blond, her figure concerningly skinny.

"You can sit on the chair," Lay said quietly while sitting down on his bed.

"Show me," Kris ordered, not even sitting down. Lay looked away, he probably felt embarrassed, to say the least.

"What?" Kris asked annoyed. He actually didn't want to sound that harsh, but it accidentally came out that way.

"It’s on my thigh," the younger mumbled insecurely.

"I said show me," Kris ordered in his no-bullshit tone. Lay looked at the ground, defeated he pulled down the sweatpants he was wearing, revealing the secrets the black material hid underneath. Seven. Kris counted seven fresh cuts covering Yixing’s upper thigh. They were long and deep, one of them even looked like it might have needed some stitches. The blood was dry but that didn't make the scene in front of Kris any less horrible to look at.

"Did you treat them? They have to be disinfected and need a bandage around them to not get infected," Kris asked. It was kind of a coping mechanism, see blood, put a bandage on it, that's how they learned it in health class. Yixing just shook his head.

"Do you have anything like this in the house?" Kris asked, hoping to be able to at least cover the wounds. Lay pulled his sweatpants up and left the room for a moment, coming back with a plastic bag full of first aid stuff. Kris proceeded to find a cream inside the bag, then meticulously putting it on the other's wounds and wrapping the leg in bandage afterwards. Lay just sat there, uncomfortably looking anywhere but Kris's direction till he as finished and he could finally hide his ugly body again behind thick layers of black clothing.

"Why this time?" Kris asked. It felt like since the last time, just a little bit more than one week ago, so much time had passed, but Kris still didn't know why the last time happened, let alone this one.

"I am a terrible friend. Why do I even have friends, I am such a horrible person," he answered, tears forming in his eyes, he was sniffling a bit, Kris could tell this wasn't the first time that he had cried today.

"No you're not, Lay, stop saying such bullshit," Kris scolded him but the younger just kept weeping in silence. "What makes you think that way?" Kris asked.

"I got Luhan in trouble again," he cried. Kris wanted to reach out and wipe the tears away that were streaming down his cheeks, but he didn't.

"So you were one of the ones that got away?" he asked, remembered seeing unidentifiable people fleeing in the dark, getting away before they could reach them. Kyungsoo had been too drunk to climb the fence and Kris had been fast enough to get him. When Suho had reached Kyungsoo as well, the two policemen meanwhile taking care of Chanyeol, who didn't even make an effort to escape, his mind too consumed with the alcohol he drank previously, Kris had noticed something in the water. He had ordered Suho to hold Kyungsoo, wanting to take a look at what it was, he suspected a bag or a piece of clothing, but that wasn't what he witnessed.

He jumped in the moment he realized the other wasn't moving. He didn't even realize it was Luhan until he pulled the lifeless body out of the pool, remembering he couldn't swim at all. Miss Kim had been there when he got out of the water, the horrified expression on her face seeing the lifeless student was branded into Kris's memory. He had laid him onto the grass, taking a step back, Miss Kim, however, had pulled the student in a sitting position, shaking him a bit. His head was swinging around like the head of a broken doll, till suddenly he had hunched over, coughing violently. Kris had felt his heart beating when he laid him down, however, he still had never been more relieved in his life than at the moment the smaller had regained consciousness, neither had Suho’s mother.

"He is fine," Kris said insecure, not knowing exactly what the other was referring to.

"I pushed him in," Lay cried, now rolling into a ball on the bed. Kris sat down next to him, awkwardly petting his arm. He didn’t really know what to do or say, but he asked: "Why would you do that?"

"I fell and accidentally pushed him," he mumbled. "If it was an accident, why didn't you just get him out? He could have drowned out there, you surely know he can't swim," Kris asked harshly.

"I can't swim either. I am such a failure, he could have died," the younger sobbed. Kris sighed, he should have expected that. But know he was curious did Tao know how to swim? He should ask the younger sometime in the future.

„Look, Luhan is fine, he probably knows it was an accident, he will forgive you," Kris uttered, still petting the youngers arm.

"No he isn't fine and he always forgives me, but he shouldn't," Lay sobbed. Kris wanted to say something about friendship and how Lay shouldn't beat himself up, but another thought crossed his mind, so he asked curiously: "Why shouldn't Luhan be fine?" Kris noticed, even though Lay was still hiding his face, that he went pale.

"Did you talk to him?" he asked after not getting an answer. Still no answer, the older suspected Lay knew something he didn't, another one of those secrets nobody would dare to spill. He didn't continue to dig further, maybe it was nothing, instead comforting Lay for a while, till his seemingly endless stream of tears finally stopped.

 

It was in the evening when Kris finally got home, leaving his bike at the entrance of his family’s gorgeous big mansion and going straight to the kitchen to grab some leftovers. He was too late for dinner, but his mother always kept some food in the fridge in cases like this. His parents were upstairs so Kris had time to reflect on his knew acknowledgements. There were so many things about the new kids that didn't seem to make sense to him, but he also reflected that he already knew more than most everybody else, simply by being exposed to Lays bloody hidden secret. But nonetheless, he suspected there was more to this, more to the south-high kids than met the eye. He needed to talk to someone, maybe share some speculations.

Maybe the others had noticed things he didn't, but he also didn't want to seem like he was stabbing the others in the back, specifically Xiumin and Sehun, just gaining a little bit of trust from their new friends and who was he to judge when it came to not revealing secrets he knew, knowing about Yixing and not saying a single word. So he decided to only text Suho to begin, but then decided, fuck this and added all his friends to the group-chat, chuckling about the idea of calling the group chat south-high-secrets-investigation-team, but settling with the simpler name of 'south-high secrets'.

Writing:  “Cause apparently the south high kids keep hiding things from us, let's share what we already know. How about meeting tomorrow after school?”

Suho was the first to respond writing: “We got exams on Tuesday and I want to do some last minute tutoring, so how about Tuesday?”

Kris quickly answered: “Sure, that’s fine with me” But Sehun answered first with: “Sure thing, Tuesday after extracurricular? How about meeting at the bubble tea shop down the street?”

Xiumin was the first to agree, writing: “Sure, but also @Sehun are you addicted or something? You and your bubble tea is worse than Suho and coffee!”

Sehun: “Not true, nothing is worse than Suho and his Coffee!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a bit more direct than the previous ones, but I hope you still liked it. If you did, leave a comment ^-^  
> See you soon  
> XOXO


	11. seeing through the lies

Luhan had barely moved for the whole day, his body had been stiff from sleeping on the floor the whole night, his neck seemed swollen, he felt dizzy and on top of that he had a massive headache, which he believed were probably just the usual after-effects of taking a beating, though his father didn’t choke him often, so he wouldn’t know about those injuries.

As per usual he spent his day locked up in his room while his father spent his day ignoring Luhan’s existence and not being at home. Luhan didn’t know where his father had gone, but he knew he wasn’t home so when the doorbell rang in the early evening he finally made his way out of his room. Slowly, fighting the faint feeling in his head.

“Hey” Luhan let out weakly when he saw who it was that came this late on a Sunday.

“I’m sorry Luhan,” the Chinese boy whimpered, his eyes locked to the floor, but the older student could still see a tear running down his cheek.

“It’s fine,” he lied, stepping forward to embrace Lay into a hug, staying like this for a while, even though the other’s high pitched hiccups hurt his already aching head.

“I didn’t want you to get hurt. I told Tao to run back and pull you out of the pool when I caught up to him, but he came back and said someone else did. I’m so sorry.” Luhan didn’t stop the storm of apologies from the younger student. He knew they were true, he knew Lay meant it, but right now, with a pounding headache and an aching body, he’d rather not be standing here listening to him, but lay in bed awaiting the pain to go away. But he needed his friend to stop blaming himself because he knew where that would lead if it hadn’t led him there already. To the rusty razor blades that so often became his friend when he felt guilty about something. He couldn’t be mad with Yixing because he knew how difficult it was for the other to forgive himself and how fragile he really was, couldn’t be mad with him because that might on a bad day maybe cost him a friend, would cost him a friend to a rusty blade that cut too deeply… it only took one mistake after all… Just one slip up and he might not even be left to feel guilty anymore…

“You always forgive me even though I don’t deserve it,” Lay whimpered after a while, he heard Luhan groaning, his eyes were closed as if he was in some sort of pain, which Lay knew he was in… After the police brought him home, how couldn’t he be? He had noticed the marks on his neck immediately and nothing but guilt ran through his veins.

“Its fine, it wasn’t your fault, shit happens, everything is fine now,” Luhan groaned, sounding more and more like he was in pain.

“Should I get you something? Tea maybe? An ice pack? Paracetamol?” There had to be something he could do for Luhan right?

“Its ok, I just want to sleep Yixing,” Luhan replied but the younger wasn’t persuaded like that, because when his friend would keep insisting not to be mad at him, there needed to be something he could do to at least ease his conscience. So he did what he could, bringing Luhan upstairs to his bedroom, tucking him in, getting painkillers from the bathroom cabinet and tea from the kitchen. Yixing knew where to find things after spending so many nights in the last few years in this house. Though it didn’t really do anything to make the guilt go away, it still sticking to him like a stain on a white cloth, at least Luhan seemed better, even if it was just a little bit.

 

 

 

Suho was a little bit late for math on Monday, coming straight from his chemistry exam. Even though he was a great student in chemistry he needed till the last minute to finish; not a single person finished earlier so Suho knew this would be a tough one. Kris had looked confident when he rushed past him to his next lesson, Baekhyun not so much. Suho just hoped it would be more than 60 percent for Baekhyun; the constant failing in chemistry really took a tall on the youngers confidence.

Suho had noticed Lay was missing as soon as he sat down next to his empty seat, but he just assumed Lay was just late cause of the exam. He wrote >>How did your test go?<< on a piece of paper, passing it to Kyungsoo and Chen. There was no way he could get away with being late and talking in class on the same day. Kyungsoo first read the paper, making a neutral face and shrugging his shoulders, poking Chen in the side, making him read it too. He also just shrugged his shoulders. Kyungsoo wrote something on the same paper Suho had passed them and passed it back. It read >>Hard to guess but it was better than the last test so that's a plus. Also, I think Luhan did well, he wrote a lot<<.

Suho smiled dumbly for a second, he didn't even know why; maybe he was just proud his tutoring efforts had paid off a little. He wrote back >>Which exams do you have tomorrow?<<, tossing the paper to Kyungsoo. >>Chemistry, both of us<< was Kyungsoo’s answer. >>Have you seen Lay today?<< Suho asked, fifteen minutes had passed and the Chinese boy had still not found his way to class. >>Seen him at his locker earlier. He's probably just skipping<<, Kyungsoo wrote back, probably forgetting who he was talking to. Suho’s displeased face was enough for Kyungsoo to try to defend his friend, but since the paper was at Suho’s he just leaned over Lay’s empty seat quietly whispering: "Don't be mad with him, maybe he is just upset, Physics isn't really his best subject you know and Lay doesn't like showing he is upset in public, he will be there in English for sure." He was motioning to say something else when he got suddenly interrupted by the teacher calling him with a loud voice: "Do Kyungsoo, I do not think your grades justify you talking in class!"

The student immediately straightened up, looking a bit intimidated by the teacher who continued his rant: "Specifically you Kyungsoo, your grades in the last test were horrendous and your homework isn't any better. How do you think it is acceptable to interrupt my class with your talking, let alone the fact that you in specific should be listening closely!" He was ranting on when he stopped, confused by one of his best students raising his hand.

"What is it Kim Junmyeun?" he asked flustered. "I am very sorry, I have to take full responsibility for Kyungsoo’s talking, I asked him if he knew where Lay is and he told me, I am very sorry," Suho said. Kyungsoo looked surprised, even Chen lifted his head from resting on his arms. They weren't expecting Suho of all people to get Kyungsoo out of trouble, let alone take responsibility for it.

"It's fine," the teacher uttered and went straight back to continuing his class. "Thank you," Kyungsoo mumbled but Suho just waved it off.

"My fault, I started it," he said and gave the younger a smile.

 

When Lay didn't show up to English either Suho was furious, there was no reason to justify skipping class, especially two in a row. This was typical south-high behaviour, the indifference of missing material, upsetting teachers, respecting rules, at south-high they probably all did it. He remembered his mother saying most students had terrible attendance in school, to begin with. He had a plan, he would get up and pretend to go to the bathroom, but instead, he was roaming the school to find Lay, starting with the canteen, but realizing that would be too obvious, he would be caught within minutes. So he decided to search in the bathrooms because that's where he found Luhan back on their first day. Nothing, but from the next bathroom he checked he heard noises from outside. As quietly as possible he opened the door just a bit, to hear what was going on, but more importantly who was also skipping class.

"Lay, it's just Physics," he heard someone say. He knew that accent, wasn't this one of the other Chinese students? The one from Hong Kong that seemed to not understand the others Chinese accent all too well? Jackson was his name if he remembered correctly. He was in grade three as far as Suho knew, Jiyong had mentioned him; he was a loud mouth, a troublemaker, one that never did homework, it seemed a miracle he even showed up to school in the first place. So no shock that he would be the one also skipping class, even though Suho had to admit, he thought that person would be Luhan. Jackson’s grades were quite decent though... Suho listened more closely, trying to understand what was going on.

"School isn't that important Lay! Nothing about Physics should make you this upset," the other boy said, making Suho click his tongue in disapproval. What a great message to send out to the younger students. Lay said something in Chinese, a loud sigh came from the other than he heard him say: "Lay I don't understand your accent, your sobbing doesn't make it better!"

Curiously Suho entered, but couldn't see anyone right then and there. They had to be around the corner by the window between the stalls, but from his position, he could hear them now a lot more clearly.

"为什么我大哑子，什么事我总失败," (why am I so dumb, I always fail at everything) he heard a trembling voice, more of a sob than actual words, if he didn't know the other had to be Yixing, he would have never recognized him.

"No you're not stupid Yixing, stop saying that!" The tone in which it was spoken reminded Suho of himself while scolding people for swearing or something. The sobs seemed to be getting louder, he heard quite desperate noises, which sounded as if one of them, probably Lay, was struggling to breathe.

"Calm down Xingxing, like I said it's just a test, nothing about physics is important enough to justify you being this upset," Jackson said.

That's when Suho decided to make himself known by stepping to the sinks where he could be seen by the Chinese boys, but both weren't paying attention to him. Lay was sitting on the floor, knees to his chest, arms folded on his knees and his head buried in them, his body seemed to be visibly shaking from cries. The other boy was crouching next to him, one hand on his back, the other occupied with holding a cigarette.

Wait a second?!

"What are you doing Jackson?" Suho said loudly and angrily. Smoking inside the school while skipping class, what on earth was Jackson thinking? For a mere second Lay lifted his head, puffy red eyes locking into the chocolate eyes of his classmates, the shock in his face turned to terror, then he quickly buried his face into his arms again, rolled back into the ball he had been before. Suho thought he was trembling even more.

"Fuck off twink, we're kinda having a conversation," Jackson blurted out, breathing in the cigarette smoke.

"Put this out, immediately," Suho demanded, totally forgetting about Lay for a second. The other rolled his eyes, stood up and threw the nearly finished cigarette out of the tilted window.

"And now fuck off," he demanded, but Suho was not planning on leaving, so the two boys just stared each other down for a minute, barely realizing what was going on with Lay, until his wheezing became loud enough for both of them to snap back into reality. Jackson crouched down next to Lay again, Suho had sprinted to him also, kneeling on the bathroom floor right in front of him, trying to make sense of what was happening.

Jackson, on the other hand, pulled his arms up, making Lay face him, speaking softly and as calm as he could: "Breathe Lay, just breathe, look at me, take deep breaths, don't hyperventilate, keep calm Lay, look at me, mimic my breathing, see..." A bunch of soothing words, trying to calm Lay down. By this point Suho understood, himself also trying his best to stay as calm as possible, but he had to admit to himself that Jackson is a far better job at this than himself. The younger was having a full blown panic attack, already getting pale from the lack of oxygen. Suho decided to try his best, reaching out and doing what his mom always did to calm him down when he was a child. Softly rubbing circles in his back, making sure he himself was breathing calmly in hopes that would calm the other down. It seemed like ages passed by without a single change of the situation but finally Yixing’s trembling calmed down and so did his wheezing and his breathing turned back to somewhat normal, he was still crying though, but Jackson had let go of his arms, just so Yixing could go back into his ball position, hiding his face in his arms.

"I should've gotten Mark from the get-go," Jackson mumbled, ruffling through Yixing’s hair.

"Who is Mark?" Suho demanded to know, his eyes fixing on the other while he continued to rub circles into Yixing’s back. He was so close, he was nearly hugging him.

"A classmate," Jackson shrugged.

"I mean, why him?" Suho asked.

"He used to be a prefect, mostly appointed to the Chinese students, but everybody would come to him. He's good at this you know, always caring, always knows what to do," he answered.

"You're not bad either," Suho admitted, mainly to himself; he should have been the one to take charge in a situation like this!

"Thanks, man, but I actually suck, it stresses me out and when I'm stressed I smoke," he explained. "I'm a stress smoker, I don’t smoke that often, but right now, I could have some!" Suho glared at him but didn't say anything.

"You might want to go back to class, you've been here for at least 15 minutes, if not 20 25ish, you'll get in trouble," Jackson suggested calmly.

"My mom will understand," he simply said. Hell no, he wouldn't just let them here right now! A confused look, then the realization hit Jackson, blurting out: "Oh, right, you're the principal's son Junmyeun right?"

"Yes," Suho said. Jackson scratched his head while saying: "Yea, sorry for calling you a fucking twink earlier."

"Don't worry about it," Suho answered, accepting the apology quickly, too relieved that he didn't have to handle this situation on his own to really be mad. He had never experienced anyone having a panic attack before, it was scary to look at, not really knowing what to do or say, or if it would have any effect at all was even worse, he couldn't be more thankful for Jackson to have been there. He clearly knew how to handle situations like this and just after seeing him today, Suho felt more confident in being able to handle one on his own, maybe copying what the elder did and said if he'd ever had to experience another one.

"How come you're here with him?" Suho asked calmly.

"Came in after my exam, I was already late for class and heard him crying, so I thought fuck it and decided to skip," Jackson answered casually.

"Nobody paid attention to him earlier? Did he just sit here crying without anyone saying anything?" Suho asked, feeling angry with any possible student who just ignored a crying second grader without even getting a teacher or a prefect student. This is what they were there for after all.

"He was hiding in one of the stalls," Jackson said as if it was obvious. Suho was quiet for a moment, shifting a bit so that he was now actually sitting next to Lay, Jackson on his other side, one arm around Lay’s shoulder, caressing his arm and pulling him a bit closer.

"Thank you for doing that," he said in all honesty. He didn't want to imagine Lay sitting there completely alone, even though he had to assume that's what he had been doing during math class already. Jackson just waved it off like it's nothing.

"We South-high kids are there for each other, that's how it is," he simply stated, putting his arm around Lay’s waist and getting closer to him. "Look Lay, nobody is mad with you, I am not mad, your mum won't be mad, Junmyeon isn't mad either," he said, his opposite hand gently stroking up and down Lay’s leg.

"Why would I be mad?" Suho asked confused.

"Yixing said you studied with him, he thought you would be mad with him for failing physics again," Jackson explained, his eyes locked on Lay, who was still hiding his face in his arms, probably still crying.

"Oh," Suho muttered. Made sense! When he was completely honest with himself, he had made some mean comments in the past and he could retrace where that thought was coming from. "I am not mad with you Lay," he emphasized squeezing his shoulder lightly.

"You will both get in trouble just because of me," Lay sobbed very quietly, his accent stronger than ever.

"It's fine, I don't get in trouble often," Suho said. He motioned an eye roll to Jackson since Lay was still hiding his face, he wouldn't see it; the older Chinese boy gave him a bright grin for that.

 

A few minutes later Jackson talked Lay into finally getting out of his curled up position and stand up. His limbs stiff, the fact that he had cried visible on his face. "

Go wash your face," Suho ordered, while Jackson picked his books up from the ground. He had a look at his phone and his features were a bit concerned, stepping next to Suho and quietly whispering into his ear: "Lessons will end in about one minute; I think you will get in trouble for missing 80% of your class!" Suho shrugged his shoulders as if he didn't care. He did, but he was not regretting his decision to stay with the Chinese boys one bit, also he was sure he would be able to get Jackson’s punishment for skipping class to a minimum if he talked to his mum about it.

The bell rang just when Lay came back after thoroughly washing his face, trying to erase the redness and puffy eyes, but it was still clearly visible. The first groups of students could be heard in the hallway. Suho wanted to stay in the bathroom till at least the majority of students had passed by, for Lay’s sake, but only about three to five minutes later, however, he heard an announcement through the speakers. Announcements were actually quite rare, well at least they used to be, but ever since south-high got merged with SM-high the announcements were more frequent, calling students into the principal’s office or informing about rules and the consequences of their violations. It was his mom speaking through the speaker.

"Zhang Yixing, Wang Jackson and Kim Junmyeun have to come to my office on the third floor immediately," she said, her voice sounding icy. Suho knew she didn't enjoy punishing students, but she saw it as a duty of her job, a necessary evil she had to do to better the school and society as a whole. Yixing looked like he was about to cry again, not knowing what to do Suho just grabbed his wrist and dragged him out and in the direction of the principal’s office, Jackson following close by. Till they arrived at the principal’s office nobody said a thing, Lay keeping his head down, Suho continuing dragging him by his wrist.

"We have to wait till she comes and asks us in," Suho explained after knocking at the door. He gestured the others to sit on the chairs next to the door. Before the merge, these chairs were never really used, but now, they were sat on often.

"What is the worst punishment for skipping class?" Jackson asked casually.

"I don't know, I have never done anything like that before," Suho answered trying to think of a plan on how to get Jackson out of trouble. "Suspension maybe, but unlikely cause nobody wants us to miss school, so maybe detention or maybe they call our parents," Suho speculated.

"That will be very useful in your case," Jackson joked while he laid an arm around his countryman. Lay had his head down, his hair blocking the view onto his face. Suho stood in front of the two boys that were sitting on the chairs.

"I'm so sorry," Yixing sobbed quietly.

"Don't be, it's ok, everything will be fine," Jackson said relaxed, pulling the other closer.

"All I ever do is bring people in trouble," he sobbed, it got harder to understand him, because of the crying and shaking, Suho even though he heard him fight for breath again. He kneeled down to Yixing’s level; put his fingers under the other chin to make him look up just enough for him to lock eyes with Suho.

"Everything will be fine, nobody is mad with you," he stressed.

"But I brought you in trouble," he said, concerningly close to ringing for air again.

"I'm not mad, Jackson is not mad, my mom won't be mad, it's ok," he said, mainly to keep Yixing to have another full-blown breakdown, he didn't want to ever see another person in the state he saw Yixing in earlier again. But whatever he did or said, it seemed inevitable that his classmate would have another panic attack. His breathing got worse and worse, so did his crying, his body shaking violently again. When he was beginning to struggle for breath Jackson grabbed his arms again pulling him into a somewhat upright position, now mumbling things in Chinese. Suho was still crouching in front of Lay, gently caressing his knees. This time he was a bit more prepared for the situation than the last time, staying calm seemed easier, he put the focus on breathing a bit louder and as steady as he could, hoping for the other would mimic his breathing. Jackson was occupied with talking a mixture of Korean, Chinese and English, but to be honest, Lay was probably not listening anyway, so it just made a calming background noise.

Suho was the only one who heard the door opening. He turned his head to see if it actually was his mom stepping out of her office. She stood there, examining the situation, her eyes locking with her sons for a moment, before she stepped closer to the three of them, her heels making noises on the floor that echoed through the empty hallway. She sat down next to Yixing rubbing circles into his back like she always did, her eyes more on Jackson and her son than Lay. Slowly, but steadily Lay’s breathing normalized again; Jackson looking pale and stressed, he gave a quick smile to the principal mouthing something Suho didn't see. Lay, on the other hand, hid his face in his hands, wiping tears away, his body still trembling.

Miss Kim got up, locking eyes with her only son and saying quietly: "Come with me for a moment Junmyeun; you stay here," she said to Jackson who was motioning to stand up too. So Suho followed her into the office he had never been in to actually get punished, only cause of other students or to see his mom. He closed the wooden door softly trying not to make a noise and then faced his mom, who was standing in front of her desk, leaning against it.

"Are you mad?" he asked, confused with his mother’s body language. He usually could tell when she was angry, years of practice in that matter, but she didn't really look that way to him.

"You tell me, should I be angry with you?" she asked plainly. A moment of silence. "What happened Junmyeun?" she demanded to know. He took a deep breath, needing to organize his thoughts before talking.

"Please don't get Jackson in trouble for this," he began, his mother’s expression shifting ever so slightly to a confused look. "So when Lay didn't show up to English, after not showing up to math earlier I tried to find him and I did," he said, trying to put his experiences into words, the whole story sounding not very believable in his own head, let alone spoken out loud. His mother’s face emotionless again. "I found him in the bathroom with Jackson, crying...," he mumbled.

"Why? What happened?" she asked calmly.

"He was apparently upset for being bad at his exam or something, I heard Jackson say some things about that, but he basically broke down after seeing me. Jackson said he was afraid I'd be mad with him or something," Suho explained.

"Why would you be mad?" she asked.

"I studied with him," he answered plainly. She gave him a nod, probably overthinking the situation.

"Broke down like this?" she asked making a head motion to the door, referring to Lay’s panic attack in front of her office.

Suho nodded: "I think it was worse, but maybe I am just exaggerating it in my head cause I've never seen something like that before." The principal looked like she was caught in thoughts for a moment.

"So you and Jackson stayed with him?" she asked, her son just nodded. She let out a long, deep sigh before saying: "I can't be mad at you for this. But it concerns me."

"What concerns you?" Suho questioned.

"Lay," she said, adding: "I've seen him maybe two weeks ago in the canteen during extracurricular talking with Kris. He was also crying quite badly." Suho was confused, Kris had never mentioned it.

"Maybe there's something deeper than what we see," she muttered letting out a deep breath, taking a few steps to her shelves full of files until she found what she needed.

"What are you doing?" Suho asked unsurely. She smiled bitterly.

"I'd like Lay to talk to me, or you, or someone, but since he doesn't seem to be doing that, I'll take some greater measurements."

"Like what?"

"We have the opportunity from the city-education-board to have a few numbers of pupils get counselling," his mom explained.

"Oh," Suho let out, shocked but not uninterested. "So you want to send him to a psychologist?" he asked. "I don't think the south-high kids could afford something like that," he quickly added, remembering what Xiumin had said to him two weeks ago.

"I am aware, if referred by me it's free of charge the school board pays, remember?" his mother said. A moment of silence, till Suho quietly said: "He'll be upset."

"Well that's why he’s going in the first place," his mother said warmly. "There are some things you and I might not be able to help him with, but maybe a counsellor can," she said reassuringly to her son. Suho didn't know why exactly he was so concerned for Yixing, maybe because he knew his soft, warm-hearted, lovable personality and simply didn't want to hurt his friend. Friend... right, he could be considered a friend know...

His mother laid the file down on her desk and with big steps she quickly got to the door, stepping outside to the two other students. Lay had stopped crying by now, buried in an embrace from Jackson.

"Jackson, you can leave," she said loudly to get the boys attention. He looked confused asking: "My punishment Ma'am?"

"No punishment, it's fine, I will talk to your teacher," she said smiling. He looked flabbergasted but got up, squeezing Lay's shoulder reassuringly and passed the principal and Suho on his way to the stairs.

"Thanks, man," he mumbled to Suho while passing.

"Don't worry about it," he got back before he passed.

"Lay, would you come in please?" the principal said softly, waiting for him to get up and follow her into her office.

She made him sit on the small sofa, a table separating the couch she was sitting on. Suho sat next to his mom, reassuring his friend before sitting down beside his mother: "Nobody is mad with you Lay, everything is fine, Jackson is in no trouble, I'm not either, my mom isn't mad with you, everything is fine!" Yixing looked unsure of himself but didn't say anything, just looking to the table in a mix of embarrassment and nervousness.

"I am concerned about you Lay," Miss Kim began calmly. "You know, I saw you with Kris in the canteen just two weeks ago and now this, I can see a pattern emerging so I want to intervene as soon as possible." Lay looked up, confused and fearful. "I want you to talk to a counsellor. The school district provides me with the opportunity to let a few students see a professional free of charge and I want you to start seeing one on a somewhat regular basis," she said. Fear was visible on Lay’s face.

"Listen, I don't know what's wrong and you clearly don't want to talk to me or Junmyeun about it, but whatever you are doing right now isn't healthy so I am going to intervene before this gets more out of hand than it already is," she said.

"I will inform you as soon as I have set an appointment for you," Suho’s mom finished authoritatively, stressing that there was no point in debating her on this one. She smiled at Lay, looked at the clock and added: "You both have thirty-five minutes left to go to the canteen and get yourself some food before next period."

With that, she stood up and gestured the students to get out of her office, and that's what they did, Suho pulling Lay with him by his wrist as he had done before.

 

 

 

"What the heck did Suho do to get called into the principals?" Kai asked Sehun behind him in the lunch-line.

"No clue," the other answered while scanning the room for the one person he really wanted to see but wasn't lucky.

"Chill Sehun, Luhan is probably still in class," Kai said amused.

"Shut up," his friend replied but stopped looking around so obviously. He had been concerned to hear about Luhan’s drowning incident on Saturday night, regretting not being the one to go with Mrs Kim when she told them she had called the cops about intruders in the neighbours’ garden. He had just shrugged and let Kris and Suho go with her because he was too lazy to change clothes, already wearing his pyjamas. The regret came later when Suho and Kris came back, Xiumin asking about the ambulance and Kris had told them about the pool incident. Cold sweat had run down Sehun’s spine, but he had kept his cool, at least on the outside. He didn't have Luhan’s phone number and apparently, nobody else did, so the only thing he could do was trust in Kris’ word that he was fine and wait for Monday to come.

Just like Kai had said, Luhan entered a few minutes after he had sat down, Kris, Tao, Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Chen, Kyungsoo and Xiumin already sitting with them.

"Suho skipped English," Kris informed after Kai had curiously asked about him.

"What?" Sehun and Kai said simultaneously.

"He went to go to the bathroom and didn't come back," Kris just said shoulder shrugging. "He will probably explain it later so let's wait and see," Kris added trying to stop his friends from speculating.

Luhan meanwhile had come back from the line to get food, sitting down between Tao and Kyungsoo, who eyed Luhan’s food to probably share with him again.

"Oh my god, Luhan, what the hell happened to your neck?" Baekhyun asked before anyone could even say anything. Purple-red marks garnished Luhan’s throat, the colour particularly visible on his pale skin.

"Oh, this...," Luhan said as if he was a bit nervous about the question. Why would he be nervous, probably everybody today had already asked him about this, didn't they? "It's just an allergic reaction," Luhan answered, playing with his fork.

"How does one get an allergic reaction on the neck?" Kai asked suspiciously. Sehun couldn't even blame him for not believing, this seemed weird even to him.

"I tried one of those choker necklaces, I might be allergic to the material, or the colouring or something," he quickly said, immediately adding: "And I scratched it quite badly." Kai nodded, made a lot more sense, even though he couldn't imagine Luhan ever wearing one of those necklaces, it didn't seem to be his style, something seemed fishy about the story, but Sehun couldn't put his finger on it.

"Luhan, are you free after Chinese?" Sehun quickly asked he wanted to talk to him about Friday.

"Sure, bubble tea?" he asked smiling. The younger nodded, Luhan turning his attention back to his food.

Suho and Lay came into the canteen half an hour before classes started, Kyungsoo and Chen sleeping with their head on the table, when both of them came to their table.

"What the fuck happened?" Jongin asked immediately.

"Have you cried Yixing?" Xiumin asked after a closer look at the others face.

"Lay was upset about his physics exam and I tried to comfort him, it's fine, nobody got into trouble," Suho simply said, quickly shoving down his food.

"Aw, poor Xingxing," Xiumin squealed and quickly hugged the Chinese boy, in the process nearly falling off his chair. Suho laughed about his stupid Hyung when his gaze met Luhan and his eyes widened.

"What on earth happened to your neck Luhan?" he asked. The Chinese boy sighed but Sehun noticed he wasn't as casual about the question as he usually was about things.

"Allergic reaction to a choker necklace I tried out," he said just like he did earlier. Suho, however, didn't look completely sold about the answer, but having no time to spare before sports, he didn't say anything. Another point on the list of weird secrets the south-high kids had, Sehun noticed the others didn't even seem surprised about the weirdly coloured marks on Luhan’s neck. As if they had seen it before or somehow expected them to be there.

 

 

 

Sports was a bit more tame than usual, they were still doing track and field under the burning afternoon sun, but they were now allowed umbrellas and water. After sports all pupils were extremely busy getting under the showers, washing off all the sweat, dirt and sand from long jump practice, Lay and Luhan both being unbelievably slow today, Suho, Baekhyun Chanyeol and Kyungsoo had already left for class and most of the other students had already cleared till they even got into the showers. "You guys can already go to Chinese, it doesn't matter if we are late," Kris told Chen and Xiumin, while he waited for the other boys.

Luhan was probably trying to cover for Yixing so nobody could see the fresh cuts on his thighs, but when Kris glanced over from the bank he was sitting at when the others were changing after showering, he suddenly stopped in his tracks. He caught Luhan with his bare back facing him, a giant black and violet bruise on his one side, more bruises covering his back, two of them as big as his hand placed near his shoulder blades. How on earth did that happen? No other explanation than the obvious came into his mind: Somebody had beaten Luhan up. Then the sudden realisation hit him, the marks on his neck, were those chocking marks? Suddenly he could see clearly, the marks were right around his throat, but not on the back, there were none like it would be if someone chocked him and unlike a choker necklace would be. Kris was simply shocked, didn't know what to do or say, simply no answer at hand for the question: How the hell could one get chocking marks this bad? Who gave it to him and how to address it, because he couldn't simply let it slide like this. Why was he lying in the first place? Was he blackmailed? Another student maybe?

 

Kris stayed next to Luhan while they were hurrying to class; right before the corridor their classroom was in he decided what to do.

"Lay, can you switch places with Luhan for today? I got to talk to him," he asked.

"Ok," Lay mumbled quietly, Luhan looking utterly confused.

"What about?" he asked but they just arrived at their classroom so Kris gave no answer, just quickly entering the room. The class had already started so the three Chinese boys simply slipped onto their seats as quickly and quietly as possible. Sehun looked confused when Yixing instead of Luhan sat down next to him, turning around to look at Luhan who simply gave him a confused look and a shoulder shrug while pointing at Kris. So he slid down on Yixing’s seat at the window in the back, Kris next to him. A moment of nothing till Kris quietly said: "Who?"

"Who what?" Luhan asked confused.

"Who beat you up? Who did this?" he asked, gesturing to the red and purple marks on his neck. Luhan looked petrified, but having his emotions under control after mere seconds quickly saying: "Oh, it's nothing, I got in trouble with some kids in my neighbourhood, I bruise easily."

Something in Kris told him this was a blatant lie; maybe it was the speed of the excuse, maybe the question why he would lie about it in the first place.

"Why lie?" he asked right away, hoping for Luhan’s cluster of lies to fall apart on the spot, but Luhan was a great liar so that didn't happen.

"Cause Suho will murder me if he hears I got into a fight," he argued. The argument was true but Kris was ninety-five percent sure it was a lie in the first place. But why? What about the truth was so bad Luhan couldn't tell?

"I don't believe you one bit," Kris stated but decided to drop the topic closing: "I don't know why you are lying about this but I know you are, but I believe the truth will come out at some point and then you can justify yourself!"

Luhan gave him a quick smile, then looked at the table for a moment as if he was ringing with himself, before he turned to Kris explaining: "I wish I could tell you, I really do, but this is very private to me and frankly bit embarrassing and I am not allowed to tell. I am sorry!" Kris looked Luhan directly in the eyes, searching for the truth, but nothing was to be found.

"Are you in danger?" he asked while tracing the chocking marks with his index finger.

"No, nothing serious," Luhan said and Kris saw sincerity in his eyes.

"How can it not be serious when you look like this?" he asked blankly, still tracing down the horrible marks on Luhan’s neck.

"Just don't worry," Luhan said again, but Kris couldn't help himself but trying to find an answer to all this secrecy.

"Why all the secrecy? All of you, why are you all like this?" Kris asked, referring to all the south high students and their need to hide all their secrets.

"We like dealing with our problems on our own," Luhan just said.

"But sometimes you can't," the taller argued. Luhan just shrugged, Kris letting out a sigh. "You won't tell the truth, will you?" he asked carefully.

"I can't, I'm sorry," the other answered and averted his gaze.

Kris didn't get it, couldn't understand what kind of things there were to hide like a dragon its treasure, but he remembered the one hidden underneath the layers of Lays clothing and could only wonder if Luhan also lied when he said he wasn't in danger. A cold shiver ran down Kris’ spine when he, while closely examining Luhan’s chocking marks, realized if he wouldn't be in danger, he could have told. The only reason to lie like this was if telling would be dangerous to him and his health. He needed to investigate, find out what there was hurting Luhan, who there was. Who made Luhan continue his silence, however bad it got, even with centimetre thick bruises on his neck. Who could choke and beat the older and get away with it? Spun in a web of lies, but Kris wanted to find out the truth, he would find out the truth.

 

 

 

"What did Kris want from you?" Sehun asked, his imagination and suspicions had run wild during class and now, while he was waiting for Luhan to gather his things, Kris had already left the room, he needed some form of closure.

"Lecture me about Saturday," Luhan answered. A stone fell off Sehun’s heart hearing that, it seemed silly but he was just too insecure about him and Luhan’s relationship, too unsure about what his friends really wanted him to do. Maybe what they said didn't match their real intentions.

"Are you coming?" Luhan asked, waving in front of Sehun’s face, waking him out of his daydream-like thoughts.

"Sure," he said, walking next to the shorter boy, so close, he brushed his hand once and all he wanted after that accidentally happened was to grab his hand, squeeze it and not let go, making sure everybody saw that he was the one Luhan was with and no one else could have him. But he didn't, he hadn't even spoken to the older.

 

They arrived at the bubble tea shop, getting their drinks and sitting down on the same place they sat in on Friday. It had been just a few days but for Sehun it felt longer. Luhan sat opposite of him; he had hoped the older would have taken the seat next to him, leaning on his shoulder like he always did, but he didn't and Sehun didn't want to ask for that.

"So how was your weekend?" Luhan asked curiously.

"Good," he lied; half of it he had spent worrying about what his friends would think about him and Luhan and nearly the other half he had spent worrying sick about the pretty boy in front of him.

"Yours?" he asked.

"Terrible," he sighed.

"What about it was so bad?" Sehun asked. Was there more to the story than he knew?

"Drowning, getting arrested, my dad’s reaction when the cops brought me home," Luhan said looking hurt and all the younger wanted to do was reach over the table and touch the porcelain skin of Luhan, caress his face till his worries would fade.

"You got in trouble?" he asked carefully.

"Obviously," Luhan stated. Of course, who wouldn't get in trouble for that?

A moment of silence till Sehun had organized his thoughts enough to speak. "I want to try it," he said with a little spark in his eyes. "I don't care about what happens when it doesn't work out, at least then I will know I tried," he said, watching Luhan closely. His whole face seemed to lighten up a bit, a soft smile making its way onto his delicate features.

"Really?" he asked as if he couldn't believe it. Why would he doubt himself? Wasn't Sehun the one with the hopeless crush? The younger simply nodded and smiled, looking into Luhan’s brown deer-like eyes for a long while, till Luhan averted his gaze and stood up from his chair. The younger was confused with what he was doing and then relieved when he realized he was just getting up to sit next to him instead of having a table separate them. He leaned his head against Sehun’s shoulder like he had done many times before saying: "I missed doing that last week."

Sehun, on the other hand, was ringing with himself. On the one hand, he knew Luhan would want to take things slow, on the other hand, all he wanted to do was lay his arm around Luhan’s back and pull him closer, wanted to have his warm body as close to him as possible, but was this progressing too fast for the other? He didn't want to ruin this right away... However after a few moments, his limbs decided to act against his own will, his arm slinging around Luhan, his hand on his waist pulling him slightly closer than he already was. Luckily for Sehun, the Chinese boy didn't seem to mind at all, so his hand stayed where it was on Luhan’s small waist. He needed to eat a bit more, his tiny figure made Sehun a bit nervous, to be honest. Not gain a lot, just a little, so he wasn't so bony anymore, so he was a bit healthier.

"We should do something together this week," Sehun said. "That's how dating works, spend time together."

Luhan, had his eyes closed when he answered: "What are you thinking about?"

"Is there something you want to do?" he asked, curious about what kind of things the older usually liked to do.

"Something special or just normal stuff?" Luhan asked, still not opening his eyes.

"Whatever you want," Sehun said and he meant that. As long as it would be with Luhan, he would do anything, however much he hated it. It took Luhan a moment to think about that when realization seemed to hit him, lifting his head so he could look at the taller boy.

"Would you do me a favour?" he asked. Sehun nearly got lost in the other’s eyes, but quickly answered: "Whatever you want." Curiously he was waiting for what would come, what exactly did Luhan want him to do for him? He couldn't really think of anything he could help him with, him being the younger school wasn't an option and extracurricular wasn't either.

"Can you teach me how to swim?" Luhan asked, his big eyes looking up into Sehun’s.

"Oh," the younger let out in realization.

"I seem to be doomed to drown sometime soon so I wanted to learn to avoid that," Luhan said after not getting a reply for a moment. "So, can you teach me?" he asked, Sehun vaguely noticed Luhan was deliberately using his Aegyo.

"Of course," Sehun quickly said. Of course, he would teach him, he couldn't think of a lot of things he would rather do than that, maybe with the exception of cupping the others face with his big hands and kissing those plump pink lips. Luhan’s smile got visibly brighter and as it did the butterflies in Sehun’s his stomach ran wild. How did he of all people end up with an angel-like boyfriend like Luhan? What did he do to deserve this? He must have saved a few people in his past life or something like that. The only thing that snapped him back into reality for a mere second was Luhan innocently intertwining the hand he hadn't on Luhan’s waist with his own. Maybe he died in his sleep and this was just heaven. But whatever it was, he didn't want it to stop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it ^-^  
> It's a bit long, but I put a lot of effort into it. Thanks for the suggestions btw.  
> See ya'll soon  
> XOXO


	12. a little love

Suho deliberately positioned himself next to Yixing during their biology exam in the second period on Tuesday morning.

"Don't worry, Luhan and Kyungsoo said biology was easy," Suho mumbled to him, knowing they had similar exams in their classes. Lay smiled insecurely but didn't really seem reassured.

"Wait for me after the exam, would you?" he asked him, hoping he could be there if another incident like yesterday would occur. They had math after the exam anyways so they could walk together to class. A weak nod, Yixing didn't look confident, but there was no time to cheer him up, the teacher was already going around handing out the exams. Suho was quite relieved seeing the questions. They were quite manageable, nothing they hadn't studied. When he glanced over he saw Lay already writing something for question one and he felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders, quickly focussing back to the task at hand beginning his own exam.

 

Suho was first to finish the exam, so he waited a couple of minutes in front of the room for Yixing to come out too. To his relieve the other didn't look upset or anything.

"How did it go?" he asked softly.

"Not bad, I think I might pass this time," he mumbled looking to the ground as if he was embarrassed.

"That's good to hear," Suho answered cheerfully, slightly pushing Lay in his back so he would move to go to class. They were already five minutes late, but because of the exam, they probably wouldn't get in trouble.

"Sorry for yesterday," Lay mumbled while walking next to Suho. "I was embarrassing," he whispered avoiding looking at the other.

"Don't worry," Suho said, stopping and pulling the slightly taller Chinese boy into a tight hug. "There is nothing to be sorry about, I am a prefect student, this is my job, I am your friend and I really want to be there for you when you need me, ok? Stop being sorry for everything and anything, nobody is mad with you," Suho gently scolded him.

"Thank you," Lay replied, his hands clinging to the other's shirt. After a moment Suho had to despondently let go of his friend, cause they really needed to get to class.

"You can always talk to me, understand?" he stressed, getting a nod from the younger. "Great, but we really need to get to math," he said, Yixing deliberately pretending to throw up, causing Suho to chuckle. Why was he so damn cute?

 

 

 

Sehun, Jongin and Tao walked together to the canteen, the hallways already empty, because of their exam they were quite late. Tao had originally been in physics class one, but after changing to computer science, which was only taught in block one, he had to switch classes.

"He handed a completely empty sheet in," Kai whispered to Sehun with a frown. Didn't he study with Kris? Why was that still a thing?

They all quickly got their lunch and sat down, Sehun to Luhan’s right. He had told Kai about their talk yesterday and he had been so excited for his friend, it was unbearable. Kai placed himself only a few places from Sehun next to Kyungsoo, who again seemed to be sharing Luhan’s food.

"How was your weekend by the way?" he asked the older, trying to make a bit of small talk but getting shut down with an icy stare.

"Driving in a police car is really exciting," he said in a tone colder than Nuuk in winter.

"I know right," Kai said as cool as possible.

"As if you knew that," Kyungsoo said flatly.

"My dad works for the police," Kai replied smirking. A confused look from the older who then replied:

"I thought your parents are rich people." There was no judgment in his tone, simply surprise.

"He is the head of the police force," Jongin clarified smirking.

"Oh, well, makes sense," he mumbled.

"Also, my mother is one of the top advisers to the president for social matters," he said smugly, trying to show off a bit. "She is a very important figure in her party you know." Kyungsoo didn't look too impressed; maybe he was just pretending not to be.

"What do your parents do, by the way? You never told me," Kai asked curiously.

"My dad works in construction," he answered emotionless.

"And your mom?" the younger asked.

"She is raising my siblings," he answered. Interesting information for Kai, so his mother had no job...

"How did your exams go by the way?" Kai quickly asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

"Quite bad, probably failed both, surely failed Chemistry," he answered disinterested. Keeping a conversation going seemed to be hard for Kyungsoo or maybe he was trying to block him off, Kai wasn't sure. The older fell asleep on one of his thicker books a few minutes later, Kai watching him sleep for a little while, questioning why he was so distant all the time. Is almost seemed like he was deliberately trying to not get closer to anybody, but that was probably just a wrong impression Kai had, he was probably misinterpreting right?

 

 

"So what do we know already?" Kris said, a notebook in his hands. He liked taking notes in general, it helped him not only to remember but to organize his thoughts and find connections he had missed before. It was Tuesday afternoon and they were all crammed into the corner in a small bubble tea shop to discuss their new friends.

"How about we start with our biggest train wreck: Tao," Suho suggested. "He is in your grade, so what do you have?" Kris asked Sehun and Jongin.

"He never talks," they both said simultaneously.

"He doesn't listen in class either, he is just there filling out the room," Kai specified.

"Never? Any class he does take part in the discussion?" Kris asked.

"English, that’s the only time I have ever heard him talk," Sehun answered.

"He is soo weird," Kai added.

"I thought he was good in math too," Suho threw into the mix. "He is, but he is usually the one to get called to work at the board, he never really talks either," Kai said. Kris noted everything meticulously.

"He also apparently never does homework for anything but English and math and he never listens to me, when I told him he can change extracurricular he forgot when I made him switch to computer science he didn't listen," Suho nagged. Kris noted everything, adding the few odd things he himself had noticed. "Also he literally handed in a blank sheet in an exam," Suho added.

"That's all?" Kris asked and after a minute of silence, he nodded, noting the rest and looking up again.

"What do you know about Tao?" Xiumin asked reflectively. "You talk with him the most!"

Kris had to be honest to himself after thinking for a moment. He actually knew barely anything about the younger. "Well, he is from Qingdao, I don't know what exactly his parents do but they work for one of Chinas biggest companies and are quite lenient with him, he said they don't care about his bad grades at all...," he said. "He is actually quite talkative in Chinese, but a bit childish," Kris added.

"So weird he acts super shy all the time," Xiumin wondered.

"Actually, he said he is going to weekend school regularly," Kai added, remembering the weird talk they had in English class last week.

"He does martial arts too," Sehun threw in the mix, also trying to recall the talk they had during English, the only talk they have ever had...

After that there was a long moment of silence; nobody could come up with more things they knew about the youngest of their Chinese friends. "Kris, I think it's your job to find out more about him, what are his parents like, where does he live, anything ok?" Suho decided.

"There is six of them and six of us, everyone can try to squeeze something out of one person," Xiumin agreed.

"So I am responsible for Tao?" Kris asked a bit sceptic. "Shouldn't that be one of his actual classmates?" he added.

"He talks to you the most!" Xiumin argued.

"Ok, ok," the blonde answered. He had hoped to get assigned to Yixing, cause he knew a lot already he couldn't spill about him, but he guessed it was a fair decision, him being the only Chinese one out of the group.

"So how about our other problem child Luhan?" Kris asked straightforward.

"He is not a problem child," Sehun quickly jumped in to defend his boyfriend.

"Well, there was the black eye from the first week, you noticed some weird bruises right Kris?" Suho began looking over at Kris who nodded. "The weird discolouration on his neck, the weird sudden weight loss, he was sick quite often so far," Suho went on.

"He already said where the black eye and bruises were from falling down the stairs, the thing on his neck is an allergic reaction and being sick isn't a crime, he lost weight, because he was sick. Why do you never believe him?!" Sehun ranted. He hated that Suho seemed to never be satisfied with anything Luhan did or said.

"I don’t believe him cause those things keep happening too often to him to just be by chance!" Suho said.

"I have to admit I am on his side with this one," Kris timed in. He did it cause he knew; he knew that at least some of these things were lies, but in contrast to Suho he didn't believe Luhan's intentions were malicious, the opposite, more than ever was he convinced the older boy had to lie or risk his own well-being. And that’s why he desperately wanted to find out what it was that made the bubbly Chinese so quiet.

"Luhan's mother lives in China right?" Kai asked, trying to recall what he had told them not long ago.

"Hong Kong," Sehun corrected. "He lives with his Dad, he is apparently quite strict," Sehun added, trying to make sure everybody was aware that he knew Luhan the best. A moment of silence when Suho decided to spill some information he was supposed to keep to himself.

"He is afraid of his dad."

Everybody looked up, this revelation seemed to be coming out of nowhere.

"What?" Xiumin asked confused.

"He told me he was afraid of his father’s punishment for the principal calling about the swearing incident," Suho said pensively.

"That makes a lot of sense," Sehun mumbled quietly, remembering the crushed looking Luhan the day their exam results were revealed, but also in Kris's mind this connected some missing puzzle pieces. Yixing was probably so hard on himself for getting Luhan into trouble because he knew his friend was going to get yelled at.

"Speaking of awful parents that yell a lot, Chanyeol’s mum is quite a cunt," Baekhyun said while angrily putting his half-empty bubble tea on the table.

"Language Baekhyun," Suho said but the younger was not having any of it.

"I will murder you all when you let him know I told you but his mum is a cunt! His parents are separating and she told him she doesn't want custody over him cause he is her least favourite child," the brown-haired boy said furiously. Nobody said a word for a moment.

"I didn't know it was that bad," Suho mumbled quietly.

"So there goes Chanyeol," Kai said, quickly trying to continue, enough had been said about the taller one.

"Is there anything we can do for him?" Xiumin asked calmly.

"To be honest, I don't think so," Baekhyun answered looking utterly defeated.

"Maybe invite him to this week’s sleepover, at least he’s gonna be away from drama for a bit," Xiumin suggested with a quick glance to Kai.

"I don't know...," Baekhyun mumbled.

"Is Chen still coming?" Kai asked Xiumin, who had informed him last weekend that he more or less had invited his friend over.

"He says he will if anybody else from south-high is there cause "I can't handle so many SM-people alone". So Sehun, is Luhan coming?" he asked hoping for the best.

"I'll ask tomorrow," the youngest answered.

"Send him a text," Xiumin proposed, trying to speed up the whole process.

"I actually still don't have his number," he answered, looking disappointed.

"I swear, the South High kids barely use their phones! Nobody got anybody’s number, ever," Kai said annoyed.

"I got Yixing’s," Kris and Suho said simultaneously.

"Chen has no phone so...," Xiumin said shoulder shrugging.

"Wait, what?" Suho timed in.

"He has no phone, you know, how people twenty years ago lived," Xiumin joked mainly because all of his friends were acting like he was missing a leg or something.

"Any specific reason why?" Kris asked curiously.

"He told me he just doesn't have the money for a phone," Xiumin answered shoulder shrugging.

"No money for a phone? Holy fuck," Kai said, immediately getting scolded by Suho for swearing.

"Yea, I have noticed Kyungsoo's and Chen's families seem to be quite poor," Kris added, remembering the day he paid the bus fare for them. Before he had never even considered there could be people who couldn't afford the bus fare. But he decided to not through this detail into the mix, remembering how embarrassed Kyungsoo was for not having the money and how reluctantly he had accepted Kris’ help. It just didn't feel right to tell everybody about this, he knew Suho in specific would try to help out immediately, but that would probably not be what Kyungsoo wanted and just embarrass him.

"Also, Chen’s parents seem to not care at all, I asked him once if his parents never say anything when he goes out of the house without combing his hair or putting on dirty clothes and he just said they don't care," Xiumin said.

"That explains a lot," Kai replied scratching his head, looking over to Suho who looked more concerned than the rest about those news.

"What are you thinking about Suho?" he quickly asked.

"Do you think that is still normal? Maybe they are neglecting him," the older mumbled.

"Ok, maybe you are just a bit too concerned," Kai said laughing, but Suho’s mood didn't seem to change.

"So that still leaves Yixing. What happened yesterday by the way?" Kai asked curiously. "Well, short form, he was crying in the bathroom because he messed up his physics exam, one of the other South High students was comforting him till I found him a period later. He more or less had a full-blown panic attack, because he thought I would be mad with him for messing up physics even though I studied with him. So that happened… after I stayed trying to calm him down, when we, rightfully, got called to the principal’s office for skipping class, he had another panic attack in front of my mom’s office, feeling bad about me and Jackson getting punished because of him. Jackson and I both got out without any repercussions, but my mom is planning on sending Yixing to a psychologist," Suho said, trying to keep the story as short as possible, but that was hard considering what happened.

"Wow," was all Sehun had to say about this.

"Yea, so I hope the counselling works out for him because I honestly don't know how to help him," Suho added defeated. A moment of silence followed everybody had to process the new information.

"So maybe we should all look out for Lay a bit," Baekhyun mumbled. He wasn't that close to Lay but everything he just heard made him feel weird, this didn't sound like some bad day or simply being upset with an exam, more so this looked like some serious issues that needed to be dealt with.

"I’m glad he gets some professional help," Sehun said. He himself didn't know him that well either, but hearing his mom talk about patients all the time, he could see how behaviour like the one on Monday required some special attention.

"I'm trying to look out for him as much as I can, but I really don't know how to help, so let's just hope for the best," Suho mumbled.

"So you're assigned to Yixing?" Kris asked scepticism in his voice.

"I guess so, why?" Suho immediately asked. Kris knew him probably a bit better than Suho for the sheer reason he could listen to him talk with Luhan and Tao.

"Nothing just... He is very sensitive and you can be a bit rude sometimes," Kris said adding: "Just be a bit more considerate than usual, I know you don't mean it, but Lay might not." Suho took the comment to heart, nodding affirmatively.

"I know, I'm trying," he replied, remembering when Jackson told him Lay was miserable because he was under the impression Suho would be mad with him. He really needed to be a bit more sensitive.

 

 

 

As always the exam results hung in the canteen for everyone to be able to quickly get their results before the first period. Suho was early as always and able to take advantage of the situation by finding not only his own but also his friends' results. This time he started with the top results, hoping he didn't have to go down to bottom like last time. Kris shared place one with two guys from grade three, all of them got 100% in both subjects. Suho had made number 4, even though he got 100 points in biology, he had gotten only 99 in chemistry. What a loss... Kai placed at 9 with coming 98 and 97.

Suho noticed a trend going down the list; most people of grade two had miserable physics grades, even the ones he deemed not bad at physics seemed to have mostly blown physics this time. Baekhyun was one of the few to pass physics even though just very tight, however, he had failed Chemistry, again. Relieved Suho found out that every one of his friends had passed biology, most happy was he about Lays 78 points in biology maybe that could cheer him up from failing physics. Curiously he skipped down the list to find a familiar figure on the last spot of the list. Tao had again gotten zero points in physics, he tightly passed computer science though, but overall this was still a disaster.

 

Right before school was supposed to start the canteen filled quickly with students searching for their results. Suho was trying to look out for Lay, but finding someone in the crowd seemed impossible, so he stayed aside and waited for his friends to find him instead. Kris was first to join him looking pleased with his results.

"Good job Suho," he said while leaning next to the wall glancing over the crowd was definitely easier with his height compared to Suho’s. "Also your tutoring paid off, everybody passed at least one out of two," he added.

"Was physics that hard? So many people failed this time around," Suho asked knowing the taller one had chosen physics class, whereas he himself hadn't.

"It was quite a tricky one, to be honest," the other answered. "Who failed?" he questioned Suho knowing the younger had had enough time to scan all the results before any other student was even there.

"Lay, Chanyeol, Luhan and Xiumin all failed physics," the dark-haired one answered.

"By a lot?" Kris asked, hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.

"Just a few points each I think," Suho shrugged.

"Tao, however, got zero points again," he sighed, watching the reaction from Kris closely. He seemed confused, saying: "I don't understand, he isn't even that bad!"

 

 

 

Luhan was standing right in front of the results staring at his name. He blew it again, but thankfully it wasn't that bad, two days, he could handle that. 'Just Thursday a Friday, it would be fine,' is what he told himself. He didn't notice Sehun till he felt long arms wrap around his shoulders from behind, pulling him to the youngers chest.

"Not that bad," he commented, his mouth close to Luhan’s ear.

"I failed physics again," he mumbled trying to not sound completely defeated, but he knew the other would probably catch up on his mood.

"You got 94 in biology though," Sehun said squeezing Luhan even tighter to his chest.

"Physics was so hard," he pouted feeling Sehun’s smile by his cheek.

"Next time it will be better, I'm sure," he just stated, pulling the older with him when he took a few steps backwards to escape the crowd a bit.

Luhan actually noticed a few glances from fellow south-high students, eyes full of curiosity having a look at the rainbow-haired boy. They were not used to seeing him with a guy other than his friends. The south high kids were curious about them and Luhan couldn't blame them; they had heard the rumours about how picky he allegedly was, so now they were surprised about Luhan’s choice, but honestly, he didn’t care. So he simply let himself enjoy Sehun’s closeness and the warm feeling it gave him, breathing in the youngers smell and feeling safe and sound just for the moment, till reality could take him back.

 

 

 

For once it was Chanyeol who realized Baekhyun was in a bad mood when he sat down next to him in English class.

"You alright?" he questioned poking the smaller a little to make him look up instead of staring blankly at the board.

"I failed Chemistry again," he sighed, looking crushed. Chanyeol didn't know what to say so he just waited for Baekhyun to say something.

"I always fail, it doesn't matter how much I study, I am just too stupid for Chemistry," he said, his eyes looking a bit watery. Chanyeol proceeded to put an arm around the younger and gently rub Baekhyun’s shoulder. "I don't even know why, I am just too stupid," he ranted on, upset, hurt and angry with himself. However hard Kris and Suho tried to help him give tutoring and explain things to him, he just could never get even enough points to pass let alone get a decent grade.

 

Chanyeol still not knowing what to say decided to stay quiet and just look at the table for a moment, trying to come up with something to cheer Baekhyun up.

"Wanna go get bubble tea later?" was the only thing he could come up with, hoping to at least cheer the other up a little bit. Baekhyun looked at him with widened eyes, it took him a minute to answer with a simple: "Sure." What exactly made him react that way? Did he not want to but was just too polite to decline? Was he mad with him about the drunken incident on Saturday? Chanyeol’s imagination ran wild without him being able to stop it.

"What did your mum say about what happened Saturday?" Baekhyun asked curiously, watching Chanyeol’s look darkened.

"Slapped me in the face and proceeded to wake up my siblings and our neighbours with her screaming," he answered truthfully. Baekhyun already knew most of the truth, now he might as well share the gory details. The shorter boy’s facial expression changed; apparently, this is what it took to make him forget about Chemistry. "

She what?" he asked as if he didn't hear what Chanyeol just said and the other, innocently thinking Baekhyun actually didn't hear what he just said repeated: "She slapped me in the face and screamed at me for a few minutes."

Baekhyun was speechless for a moment, if Chanyeol interpreted his reaction right he was angry or maybe shocked. "Earth to Baekhyun, why so quiet," Chanyeol questioned poking the other clumsily.

"She hit you?" he blurred out.

"I wouldn't call it hitting, just a slap, nothing serious, it barely hurt," Chanyeol automatically started justifying, but Baekhyun stopped him before he could say more: "She slapped you in the face! How could she? That is child abuse! She should get arrested for that!"

Quickly Chanyeol put his hand on Baekhyun’s mouth, trying to stop him from saying more, they were in the middle of class, Kris sat next to Baekhyun, everybody could listen and the teacher could notice. Baekhyun looked angry with Chanyeol, grabbing his arm to free his mouth so the taller boy quickly looking around put a finger on his own lips trying to signal to the smaller to be quiet before letting go.

"Later ok?" he mumbled insecurely. Baekhyun was just about to continue disregarding the taller one's words when the teacher called him to read something out loud in the book and Chanyeol was more than relieved, but an icy stare of the younger caught him off guard and a quietly whispered: "We will talk about that later," made Chanyeol wish he hadn't said anything at all.

 

 

 

"Chanyeol?" Xiumin nearly screamed over the table to get the attention of the slightly absent looking classmate. He basically sat on the other end of the table, the noise in the canteen preventing any normal conversation between people sitting this far apart.

"Hm?" he muttered looking up at the older.

"Are you free this weekend?" he asked smiling a little mischievously.

"I think so," the other answered confused.

"We are having a sleepover at Kai's house and you are now officially invited, are you coming?" he asked. Baekhyun who was sitting next to Chanyeol smiled ever so slightly trying not to show how excited he actually was to possibly have Chanyeol over too, even though he didn't have the courage to invite him himself for some reason.

"Ok," Chanyeol said too quietly for Xiumin to hear but the older could judge from Baekhyun’s smile what the answer was.

"Can I have your phone number, I'll send you the address," Xiumin said pushing his iPhone over the table to the taller guy for him to add himself to his contacts. He caught Baekhyun’s slightly jealous face when Chanyeol was occupied saving his contact into the older’s phone so Xiumin just gave his friend a cocky grin.

Xiumin was always the one who found it the easiest to make friends, being his casual self even asking for numbers usually didn't end in the awkwardness Baekhyun experienced in such situations. That was definitely one of the reasons the older was always surrounded with friends and found boyfriends easily; Baekhyun, on the other hand, was more of a passive person when it came to potential boyfriends, what really didn't help him with his dating game. His exes had both approached him initially and the brown-haired one had always taken it for granted, but now when he actually had a crush, he wished to be a bit more like Xiumin.

Around friends, Baekhyun found it easy to be funny and inappropriate, but with Chanyeol this was a whole different ball game. Baekhyun’s phone vibrated and he pulled it out of his jeans to have a look. He got a text from their "investigation"-group chat. Making sure Chanyeol was not looking he had a quick glance at the message reading: >>Here's Chanyeol’s contact, your welcome Baekhyun xoxo<< just a moment later before he could even respond to the public shaming Xiumin was committing in the group-chat there was a new message from Sehun: >>Luhan’s contact just in case<<

Xiumin quickly replying: >>You actually managed to ask for his number Maknae? I am impressed! Btw is Luhan coming on Saturday?<<

Baekhyun looked up from his phone, it seemed a bit rude to have these silent conversations during lunch with everybody at the table, but it was sure fun... He saw Sehun also looking up from his phone; he sat at his usual place next to Luhan, one arm around his shoulder while the other was eating, as per usual sharing his plate with Kyungsoo.

"Lu?" Sehun asked to get his Hyungs attention.

"Hm?" he uttered looking up from his food and the discussion he was having with Kyungsoo.

"Do you want to come to our sleepover on Saturday?" he asked hoping for a positive answer.

"I'll have to talk to my dad but I guess I can come," he answered smiling at the rainbow-haired younger.

"Why do you need permission?" Suho asked who of course had nothing better to do than listen to other people's conversations. In all fairness, they were not speaking particularly quietly and he was sitting quite close to them, specifically two places from Sehun, who on his other side sat next to Yixing.

"Might get in trouble for failing physics, but I think I will be able to come on Saturday," Luhan answered as casual as usual, but Baekhyun noticed he was playing with his fork as if he was uncomfortable. Suho gave him a look of pity, whereas Baekhyun caught Yixing and Kyungsoo exchanging a glace the other couldn't interpret. Maybe texting in their presence wasn't that bad as they seemed to have silent conversations of their own.

"By the way, Chen," Xiumin said poking his seat neighbour who may or may have not been taking a nap with his head on his books.

"What?" he asked annoyed.

"Chanyeol is coming on Saturday, I am assuming so are you right?" he said with a voice that eliminated every discussion.

"Sure," he sighed rolling his eyes, causing a huge wide grin on Xiumin’s face.

"Also, bubble tea after class?" he asked wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Sure," Chen said again, pretending to not be excited about this, but Baekhyun was sure he saw him grinning.

 

Tao was sitting next to Kris, mainly because the seats next to Yixing and Luhan were both occupied when he came from class. The younger was leaning with his head against Kris’ shoulder. They had been becoming a bit closer since Kris had started tutoring Tao in physics, getting to know the younger a bit better. He had learned that behind his sometimes distant facade Tao was bubbly, childish and affectionate, even though all of those traits were exclusively shown in his interactions with his fellow Chinese students. It was as if Tao didn't trust his Korean classmates and instead always clung to Luhan and Yixing and now also Kris. Kris didn't mind though, he had never realized how much he missed speaking to anyone other than his parents in Chinese.

"为什么物理的结果怎么不好? 教的时候你做不错," (why did you do so bad in physics? You weren't that bad during tutoring) Kris asked curiously. He had wondered about the reason for the last few lessons, still not being able to find a valid reason.

"问题的制订我不懂，所以我不能回答,"(I didn't understand what was meant with the way the questions were formulated so I couldn't answer) the younger answered without moving at all.

"问题太复杂吗?" (The questions were too complicated?) he asked.

"不是，我只不懂问题的制订，如果我懂了我觉得我可以解决," (No, I just didn't understand the way it was formulated, if I understood the question, I would have been able to answer it) Tao answered snuggling a bit into Kris’ shoulder. He nodded slightly, the situation made more sense now, sure, if you don't understand the question, how could you answer? But there was this little voice in the back of his head telling him there was some crucial point in this story he was missing.

 

 

 

This time Xiumin and Chen didn't go to sit in the shop, instead, they got some bubble tea to go and roamed the streets. It was Chen’s idea, Xiumin would have rather stayed inside with air conditioning and not so exposed to the burning sun, but Chen was right when he said they needed some fresh air and it was already late afternoon so the sun wasn't actually that bad. It was the humidity that was killing the older.

"Why can't we just stay inside like normal people?" Xiumin asked while wiping sweat from his face.

"That's the poor people lifestyle Hyung," Chen said laughing, grabbing Xiumin by his hand and pulling the older with him.

"How do you live like this?" Xiumin asked jokingly, out of breath from being dragged around in the humid weather.

"Just like the caveman did, us poor people are just tougher than you folks," Chen answered cheekily smiling.

"I don't even doubt that," the older replied, letting himself get dragged around for a while before he asked: "Where are we going? I'm not familiar with this part of town."

"There is a garden somewhere close, I go there quite a lot when I'm bored," Chen answered slowing down a bit to give his panting Hyung a break.

"Man I thought I got asthma, but you look and sound worse than me, ever considered going to the doctor for that?" he joked poking Xiumin.

"I'm just not used to the heat," Xiumin stated offended at the suggestion. A moment later, he realized what the other had just said and asked: "Are you serious though?"

"About what?"

"About you having asthma," Xiumin specified wiping some sweat from his forehead.

"Yea, no big deal, lots of people have it," he simply stated, adding: "Luhan for example." A surprised look on Xiumin’s face, so he continued: "But his is more due to allergy and less actual lung problem like mine, but for him, it hits him out of nowhere whereas I usually know when it’s coming. One time Luhan and Yixing should get something out of the storage room and Luhan ended up coughing till he turned purple," Chen told Xiumin as if he was telling a funny story and not a horrifying experience that could have killed somebody.

"How can you be so casual about this kind of things and why didn't Luhan just use medicine or something," Xiumin asked, looking panicked for past Luhan. Chen rolled his eyes.

"Its normal, those things happened in south high quite often, lots of kids have asthma, smoker parents and shit, also, I think Luhan didn't have his spray for...," Chen said, biting his tongue and finishing with: "some reason." The older caught onto that but didn't know what to make of it so he just asked: "Then why didn't you lend him your medication? Isn't it all the same?"

"Well first of all not necessarily and second, that happened in the first year of high school and I don't even have an inhaler anymore since the end of middle school," Chen justified quickly.

"Why? Didn't you just say two minutes ago that you have asthma?" Xiumin asked genuinely confused.

"Yea but I don't own medication anymore," Chen stated.

"Why? Do you not need it or what?"

Chen sighed, contemplating whether or not he could trust Xiumin with this information, but he came to the conclusion at this point he didn't have much of a choice anymore, so he just hoped for his Hyung to understand and not run to Suho to snitch right away.

"Too expensive," he explained, looking at Xiumin who looked like he didn't understand what he meant. "I simply don't have money to buy myself an inhaler, except I would just not eat for a while or something." Dead silence was what followed his confession. Nervously he starred into Xiumin’s eyes, but he still couldn't guess what his Hyung was thinking.

"What are you thinking about," Chen asked after an awkwardly long moment of silence.

"I never knew there are people that can't afford medication...," he mumbled looking completely crushed, but also so cute Chen just wanted to give him a hug and squish his face a little.

"Aww, don't worry, you know I don't overwork myself in P.E. class and even if I can always borrow Luhan’s remember?" he said cupping the older’s face with his hands and squished his face just a little, making Xiumin smile. He took a deep breath before saying: "You're so cute."

The round-faced boy blushed a tiny little bit averting his eyes from Chen’s slightly intense gaze to the floor, so he didn't see what was coming when Chen leaned down and placed his lips on Xiumin’s. It felt like Xiumin’s heart just skipped a beat in excitement, his eyes closed and he wrapped his arms around Chen’s middle to pull him closer to deepen their kiss. Chen’s hand were still cupping the older's cheeks, his thumbs gently caressing his cheekbones, his pointer finger tickling a bit on his ear. It was just an innocent kiss, an extended peck on the lips if you will, but in Xiumin’s head if felt like it was more than that.

They separated when someone on a BMX bike drove so close to them, even though Chen pulled Xiumin away a bit, but he could still feel the bike next to him.

"Ey, look where you're going," Chen screamed after him, but the other just made a quick turn and drove in their direction again.

"Fuck off you fucking faggots," he screamed at them. He wasn't tall, or intimidating, Chen had fought with kids like him before, but he was on a bike, that would make things harder at first and easier afterwards. He just needed to be able to grab the bike or push it, as soon as he got the other to the ground he had the upper hand.

"What's your problem?" he asked loudly, the other motioning to drive to them again.

"Seeing faggots like you kissing," he screamed in a high pitch voice, suggesting he might only be in his early teens.

"Then don't look and you won't see it anymore," Chen suggested pulling Xiumin out of the others way when the biker came at them again, placing himself in front of the older to shield him a bit, cause unlike Chen Xiumin was neither experienced nor prepared for situations like this.

"Stop talking to me like a child," the other screamed loudly, his voice tainted with anger, but not the deep anger some people had for gay guys, more the 'stop embarrassing me, I am not comfortable with my sexuality yet' anger, which gave Chen an idea on how to stop the biker from endangering their health.

"I would, but I can't do that when you have your fly open and I can see those SpongeBob boxers..." Xiumin took a quick peek before bursting out in laughter. Chen was right; the guy on the BMX had his fly open. The guys face quickly became a dark shade of red, especially after Xiumin had started laughing at him. He mumbled some things before quickly pulling his fly shut and turning around to dive off.

"Bye bye Spongebob," Chen screamed after him, knowing it could be a bad idea to test his luck, but the opportunity was just too perfect to let it slip by and fortunately, the other didn't turn around but drove off as quickly as possible, while Chen wrapped his arm around Xiumin’s shoulder.

"You were great," Xiumin complimented while wrapping his warms around Chen’s neck, pulling him closer to continue where they had stopped, soft lips placing on top of Chen’s while he twisted his arms around his Hyungs middle pulling him closer. Two slightly sweaty bodies pressing against each other while the kiss deepened into a less innocent one. Chen could feel Xiumin smiling, but he wouldn't open his eyes just to see, instead he, very quickly, slipped his tongue into the others mouth, playing the game of making out, being sure both parties of this game were enjoying this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys liked the new chapter ^-^  
> Sorry, it took so long for the new chapter, I was very busy last week.  
> See you soon  
> XOXO


	13. Too scared to run, too scared to hide

Luhan was already sitting at their table when Sehun came to the table at lunch. He sat down next to his boyfriend placing an arm around him to pull him closer. Luhan closed his eyes and smiled, making the younger’s heart melt a little.

"Are you not getting food today?" he asked, eyeing the lack of a food plate in front of his precious boyfriend. Luhan shook his head a little, just enough for Sehun to notice but not enough to make the need for him to lift his head of his boyfriend's shoulder.

"Not hungry?" Sehun asked. A mumbled noise, probably in agreement.

Sehun didn't like that, remembering the week Luhan had skipped lunch all the time and how skinny he had gotten within the short period. He had barely gained enough of that weight back to not be considered scarily skinny anymore. His body however still seemed too frail and small.

"Do you know already whether you can come on Saturday?" he asked while eating.

"Should be fine," Luhan answered, snuggling a bit closer to Sehun, both his arms were wrapped around the youngers middle, his head resting on his shoulder. Luhan had been touchy before they were together before they could have even been considered close friends, and Sehun definitely enjoyed the closeness and cuddling, but he was missing something. They had never kissed. Well, if you discount the kiss they had shared during games in Xiumin’s house two weeks ago, but Sehun didn't count that anymore, now that he wasn't just pretending to be Luhan's boyfriend in his imagination, he felt like that kiss didn't count anymore. Sure, before it felt like the best thing that had ever happened to him, but now it felt more like cheating at the task. Luhan had closed his eyes so he couldn't see the way the younger was eyeing his plump lips, thinking about when the right time would come to kiss them. Maybe he was being too considerate, maybe he should be pushing things a bit further on his own, but he simply couldn't bring himself to do so, too insecure he might mess things up.

 

Yixing was sitting on Luhan's other side, talking to Tao across the table. Suho was always a bit fascinated by them speaking Chinese, maybe it was the language, maybe just the fact Yixing’s voice sounded so different in the foreign tongue. Tao was sitting with Kris, like he often did, specifically since Kyungsoo often took the seat next to Luhan to share his food, but today Luhan seemed to be skipping lunch and so did Kyungsoo. Suho never really paid attention to the short big-eyed classmate of his, but his behaviour sometimes struck him as just as odd as Tao’s. Today he was talking with Jongin, who always tried keeping a conversation with the older going, but Kyungsoos awkwardness stopped that from happening most of the time.

Yixing had stopped talking to Tao and started eating instead, Tao now talking loudly to Luhan. It seemed convenient for them that most of the others didn't understand their conversation considering how loud they were speaking.

"Lay," Suho calmly said, trying to get his seat neighbours attention. He looked up, his brown eyes locking with Suho’s. "I am supposed to tell you your first counselling session is tomorrow during Chinese. My mom thinks it's ok if you miss it."

Yixing averted his gaze again, his expression seemed sad, maybe even a bit embarrassed. Suho paced his hand on the youngers knee, squeezing it a bit and saying reassuringly: "There's nothing to worry about, you'll be fine. Just relax about it!" Lay smiled very lightly, but absolutely unconvincingly.

"You're not fooling anybody Lay, what's wrong?" he asked, paying close attention to the others expressions. His face always gave away how he felt, Yixing really wasn't a great liar. No answer from the Chinese boy, he kept looking at his plate. "What are you doing after school today?" Suho asked after not getting a reply for a while.

"Nothing," Lay mumbled quietly, slowly taking a bit from his mashed potatoes.

"So you're free after school?" he asked, getting a nod in reply. "Do you wanna go grab a coffee after classes?" he asked, watching Lays response closely. He lifted his head, for the first time in a while actually looking at the other.

"Why?" he questioned.

"What why?"

"Why do you want to get coffee with me?" Lay questioned. Suho couldn't clearly say what emotion there was on his face, maybe surprise, maybe suspicion, maybe something else.

"Cause I want to get to know you better and you look so unhappy today," he answered honestly. Lay averted his eyes again, Suho was sure he saw guilt flashing across his soft features.

"So meet me after extracurricular at the lockers?" he suggested, remembering Xiumin’s words two weeks ago and adding: "My treat." No answer, Lay just kept looking at the table. "Ok?" Suho questioned, gripping Lays chin lightly to make him look up. Lay nodded but didn't look any better than before.

 

 

 

Tao dreaded Physics class since the first day he had changed the class. The physics teacher in class one had been a lovable old lady, with big glasses and she had a lot of fun making experiments. The teacher in block two, however, made Tao wish he had never changed to computer science in the first place. What difference would one passed subject make to his overall grades anyway?

He needed to take a few deep breaths to calm himself down to even be able to enter the classroom. Only a minute till class would start, because of how much he hated physics he was never early. He quickly made his way to the third row, where he usually sat with Sehun and Kai. They were the only reason he hadn't yet hidden under the table for the duration of the lesson. However before he could even reach his place, he heard the loud voice of his teacher call his name. Having no choice but turn around and face him, Tao did just that, putting on his best poker-face, preparing of what was about to come.

"Tao actually managed to get ZERO points in the test. ZERO! So if you ever feel like you're a loser, remember you're always better than Tao," the teacher said, but Tao could only guess what he was saying, watching his classes reaction. He was making fun of him again, how unpredictable. That hasn't happened in a while...

"You know Tao, a slice of bread can get exactly as many points in a test as you can!" Tao didn't understand what the teacher just said, but the whole class was bursting out in laughter. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Sehun and Jongin balling. Tao kept his poker-face on, letting nobody know how hurt he was by the humiliating comments, even though he didn't understand them.

"Tao, how about you sit here at the front, I don't think your grades grant you the rights to sit anywhere but right in front of me," the teacher said while gesturing to the empty seat in front of him. Defeated the black haired Chinese made his way to the table right in front of the teachers and took a seat, praying for the class to be over as soon as possible, not knowing what was going to happen then.

Mr Nahm had been weird to Tao since the day he first entered his class. He seemed to have picked on the only Chinese student in grade one within minutes, making him the target of jokes, humiliation and occasional screaming. But there was the other side of this teacher, which made Tao feel utterly uneasy. He seemed to be watching Tao too often, too closely, too intensely, his eyes scanning his facial features or his body in a way a teacher shouldn't do. Maybe he wasn't doing it on purpose, but it made him feel uneasy, awakening memories the black haired one had hoped to have bottled up and locked away. Memories of that time...

Instead of following the lesson Tao studied by himself from the book he had gotten from Luhan. The older had brought a textbook from Hong Kong, so a lot of characters were unfamiliar to Tao, but he could study on his own like this. As long as it was in Chinese, Tao could study anything on his own, he was used to it by now. Mr Nahm let him alone during class, knowing picking him would be pointless anyway, but Tao had a weird feeling about today; something was off.

As soon as the bell rang he was trying to leave the room, hoping to get out as soon as possible, finally being able to get rid of all his bad vibes, but that’s when the teacher said loudly: "New rule, the worst student in class is doing the clean-up from now on!" One of the SM-high students was cheering; everybody else seemed only mildly amused. Tao didn’t understand, but he didn't need to: Mr Nahm just placed the dirty blackboard sponge in front of him, signalling it was his turn to clean the room. There was no point in protesting, how would he do that anyway? So Tao just took the sponge and cleaned the blackboard while everybody else left the room to get to extracurricular.

"Are you just an idiot or do you actually not understand?" Mr Nahm asked, eying him while he was cleaning. Tao didn't answer, because like most of the time someone was talking Korean with him, he didn't understand. He didn't understand when the teacher spoke, or when his so-called friends, he knew nothing about cause he didn't understand them, were talking. Occasionally he understood a sentence or two, but that was just a very occasional thing. Only one or two sentences, not a lot more. He studied on his own most of the time, but he also had lessons on the weekend, but unlike during his time in the language program in south-middle and south-high where he had lessons every day he barely improved, spending too much time with subjects he couldn't pass anyways instead of learning Korean.

"But you speak English right?" Mr Nahm asked, his English had a strong Korean accent, but Tao had learned English since primary school so he could still understand what the other was saying.

"Yes, I speak English," he answered, suddenly realizing his teacher had stepped behind him, only centimetres from Tao’s back away.

"So it's true, you don't speak Korean. I assumed so when I heard other teachers talk about you," Mr Nahm said, placing a hand on Tao’s hip. A cold shiver ran down his spine, his eyes quickly searching for an escape route, but there was only one door in this room and it was blocked by his teacher. The physics rooms were in the basement of the school, so windows weren't an option either. Tao felt cold sweat on his temples when he felt his teacher's other hand on the other side of his hip.

"You're quite a pretty boy you know, Mr Nahm mumbled his hands pulling Tao back, his ass was now touching his teacher's crotch.

"Leave me alone please," Tao said, his voice shaking. He wished he would be able to keep his posture, be the strong Kung-Fu boy he usually was, but in situations like this, his only reaction was to freeze, unable to run or fight.

"I could help you with physics you know?" Mr Nahm said, moving against Tao’s behind so he could feel his teacher's excitement. He began to panic, trying his best to somehow get his teacher off him, but the iron grip on his hip wasn't loosening. "I could make sure your physics grades get better you know?" the teacher said his mouth on Tao’s throat. He felt his warm breath against his neck, his lips brushing against his skin.

"Let me go, sir," he whimpered suddenly realizing his teacher had let go of the right side of his hip and instead his hand was now wandering up his inner thigh.

"Wouldn't your parents be proud if you would pass another subject? Wouldn't you like that?" he said, his hand now dangerously close to Tao’s lower abdomen.

"Let go of me please," Tao pleaded when his teacher's hand suddenly was between his legs. He was trembling, barely able to stand anymore, his mind full of nothing but fear. The school bell rang. Extracurricular activities were staring right now and he was here, trapped between his physics teacher and the blackboard, too scared to fight back, too scared to run.

Suddenly his teacher let go of him, taking a few steps back. "Go to class Tao, you really shouldn't miss it," he said coldly. The shaking boy turned around to see his teacher smirking. "This better stays between us. But who would believe a student like you anyways, doesn't speak Korean, terrible grades, I'd just say to the police you were making things up because I give you bad physics grades. Nobody would believe you anyway," he stated, cold black eyes looking into the scared ones of Tao.

"See you, next class," he said, his smirk mischievous. A shiver ran down Tao’s spine, there was no way out, nowhere to hide. Quickly he grabbed his bag and stormed out of the classroom, surprised his legs were even carrying him. He didn't know where to go or what to do, so he ran into the nearest bathroom, locking himself into a stall, leaning with his back against the stall wall and sliding down, till he sat on the dirty bathroom stall. Only when his trembling hands touched his face he realized he was crying. How did this happen, how did this happen to him? How was he the one seemingly trapped into this cycle he couldn't escape? He buried his face into his hands, letting himself cry without holding back anymore.

 

 

 

Kyungsoo wished he would have the money to pay for the fee the extra-curricular class for cooking had, not only because he loved cooking and he was constantly hungry, not getting enough food at home, but also because he hated sports and especially after not having food today, this class was just a torture device. Luckily for him, they were now all allowed to drink, sit under an umbrella and have bathroom breaks, so his plan was to spend approximately 15 minutes pretending to be in the bathroom so he didn't have to play any more soccer. However, he had to wait for at least 20 minutes after class had started to seem less suspicious.

"Where is Tao?" Kris asked, looking around for the younger, but as far as he could see there was no black haired Chinese boy with way too many ear piercings around.

"Don't know either," Kyungsoo said, glancing at the stadium clock. 25 minutes in... 'It should surely be ok to go to the bathroom now,' he concluded and quietly made his way to the locker rooms, then out, because the toilets in the locker-room were too dirty and why use those when he could just walk 2 minutes and use a clean one?

As soon as he entered the bathroom he could hear someone crying, muffled sobs clearly audible and echoing back from the empty stalls in the bathrooms. Kyungsoo crouched down, trying to locate where the person was to find out whether he should go get Suho or Mark. If this was a south-high student there was no way he would get Suho!

"Hey," Kyungsoo said, knocking on the stall someone was sitting in. "Are you ok?" No answer, so instead he got into the stall next to the one and climbed onto the toilet to have a glimpse at whoever the other was.

"Tao?" he gasped nearly falling down. The other looked up, his eyeliner was smudged all over his eyes, making his panda nickname seem fitting, he looked terrible. He didn't even make an effort to wipe away his tears just buried his face back into his hands.

"I'll go get Mark," Kyungsoo said and stormed out of the bathroom.

 

This would be so much easier if he actually knew where to find Mark. He knew he didn't have sports class, cause he would have seen him there, so he could either have cooking, dancing or art class. Since Kyungsoo knew where the dancing classrooms were he decided to look for him there first, sprinting through the hallways to the dancing rooms. The rooms had big windows on one side, where one could see everyone inside easily, but the class was so crowded Kyungsoo couldn't make out if Mark was there or not. He was squinting his eyes, concentrating on a guy furthest away from where he was, that looked a lot like Mark, but he had his back turned to him so Kyungsoo couldn't see. He didn't notice the door opening before someone called his name. He flinched then quickly turned to whoever called him, relieved it was only Jongin.

"What are you doing here Soo?" Kai asked confused.

"I'm searching for Mark," he explained, still panting from running through the hallways.

"Who?" Kai asked back.

"The prefect student from south-high," the shorter one explained, hoping Kai would get the hint.

"Just get Suho, he's the prefect for grade two," Kai said. Kyungsoo noticed from the corner of his eyes the guy he thought might be Mark had turned around and turned out to not be him. Damn this!

"I need Mark ok?" he just stated, already turning around to go find him somewhere else, when he stopped in his track facing Jongin again to ask: "Do you know where the cooking rooms are?"

"Second floor down the hallway last room to the right," Kai said smiling. "Good luck," he called after his Hyung while he already ran to the stairs.

He entered the kitchen quietly, hoping nobody would take notice, while he stood on his tiptoes scanning the class for Mark. He was on a table in the back by the windows, accompanied, as usual, by his boyfriend Jackson. Without thinking much about it Kyungsoo made his way through the classroom to Mark, not noticing Suho and Baekhyun, who however took notice of him.

"Hey Jackson," he mumbled before addressing his initial target: "Mark, you have to come, Tao from grade one is sitting in the bathroom crying." He spoke quietly so even Jackson who was standing really close was barely able to hear what he said. Mark nodded, then however his face darkened a bit, he was looking at something behind Kyungsoo so the shorter one turned around to see what there was.

"What are you doing here Kyungsoo?" Suho asked confused but also a bit bossy.

"None of your business," Mark stated without much emotion in his voice.

"你去，我查看了你的做饭," (you can go, I'll look over your cooking!) Jackson said, pressing a soft kiss on Mark's cheek.

"感谢," (thank you) Mark replied smiling softly and placing a quick kiss onto his boyfriend's lips, then grabbing Kyungsoo by the wrist and dragging him out of the room.

"Where?" he asked as soon as he closed the door.

"Downstairs," Kyungsoo said, now he was the one to grab the other's wrist and dragging him through the school.

They quickly entered the bathroom Kyungsoo had found Tao in. As soon as they were inside they could hear him crying. "韬子，开门，让我进来," (hey Tao, open the door, let me come in), he said hoping for the younger to do as he said, but after waiting a minute without anything happening he took matters into his own hands, quickly getting into the next stall, stepping on the toilet and simply climbing over the wall separating the stalls.

"You can go," he whispered to Kyungsoo and the other did as he said, there was probably nothing he could help with to begin with, so Kyungsoo just left, wondering what had happened to Tao.

 

 

 

Suho was waiting by the lockers, most students had already left, but he knew that the kids in sports and dancing extra-curricular still had to shower so he was patiently waiting for Lay, also holding an eye out for Kyungsoo and Mark. After Mark had left extracurricular to not come back the whole class he had tried talking to Jackson, who told him Kyungsoo apparently came to get Mark because someone was crying. Jackson said he didn't know who, but maybe he did but didn't want to tell. To Suho’s question about why Kyungsoo didn't get him Jackson had simply said that most south high students trusted Mark, whereas they didn't trust Suho that much. He felt defeated but hoped everything was fine, hoped Lay was fine. What if that person was Lay again? What if he had had another panic attack?

Lay came to the lockers about twenty minutes after classes had stopped profusely apologizing for being so late. Suho was just glad he looked nothing like he had cried and told Lay not to worry so much. Not that that would help in any way...

They sat down in a busy cafe close to the school, Suho knew it cause his mother and he went there often to get coffee in the morning. Lay had ordered hot chocolate after Suho had insisted he had to order something and then insisted again to pay for him. Now he was sitting opposite him on a small table, so close their knees brushed sometimes.

"Tell me what’s wrong Lay," Suho said while taking a sip of his coffee. A mumbled: "Nothing."

"Lay, I know something is up, what's wrong?" he asked again, trying to be patient. Lay looked at the table. It seemed to be a habit to avoid looking at people when he was lying, but it was so easy to look through his behaviour, it really wasn't very effective.

"I don't want to tell," Lay mumbled, still not looking up.

"Why?" Suho questioned, his piercing gaze laid on the other. His eyes were hidden by his fringe but Suho could guess by the way he was acting that they were watery already.

"I don't want you to know."

"Why?" he asked again, hoping for Lay to be a bit more specific.

"Cause I want you to like me," the Chinese boy mumbled. Suho could see him biting his lip, the part of his face he could make out was full of sadness.

"I do like you," he said calmly but Yixing was just shaking his head profusely: "You wouldn't if you knew." He sniffled a bit, the shorter one was sure he saw a lonely tear roll down his cheek.

"Did you murder someone?" Suho asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"No."

"Torture someone?"

"No!"

"Rape someone?"

"I would never...," Lay began answering but was cut off by Suho: "Then it's nothing that couldn’t be forgiven!" Lay finally looked up, his watery eyes filled with confusion, but at least he didn't look so darn sad anymore.

"So now tell me please," the dark-haired elder insisted, grabbing Lays hands that were folded in front of him on the table and squeezed them gently.

"I am just to egoistic," Lay said while a lonely tear made its way out of the corner of his eye to his cheek, but before it could run down any further Suho had wiped it away with his thumb.

"Why?" he asked again, feeling like a broken record player.

"I am so lonely and Luhan has no time for me anymore, cause all he does is be with Sehun and he is so happy, but I am so jealous! I just want Luhan to have some time for me but he is so happy with Sehun and I can't just destroy that only because I have no friends other than him. And I asked him if he has time on Saturday but he'd rather spend it with Sehun instead of me and now I just feel like I'm replaced. There's nothing I can do better than Sehun and I always just cause trouble for Luhan so I can't even blame him, but I'm so lonely and I just want my best friend back," Lay sobbed, now full-blown crying, wiping his tears away with the back of his hand every few moments. Suho caressed Lays other hand a little, just watching him cry his heart out, hoping it would help a little.

"I'm sorry, I'm such a cry-baby," he sobbed after a few moments.

"Just let it out, nothing to worry about," Suho reassured him waiting another few moments before doing anything.

Luckily the Chinese boy calmed down rather quickly, fewer sobs fewer tears. "Sorry," he said again adding: "I'm so embarrassing." Suho felt like scolding the other for continuously belittling himself and pushing all his feelings down until they were so suppressed it was just a matter of time till they would explode. But he didn't do that. He didn't because he knew about Lays fragile soul and that he would just put the blame on himself again like he always did. Instead, he tried reasoning with the younger: "But you do have friends other than Luhan, what about Tao? Or Kyungsoo, Chanyeol and Chen?"

"There are not my friends, they are Luhan's friends," Yixing answered wiping his eyes.

"You can have the same friends," Suho argued. "I don't know Kyungsoo and Chanyeol that much," Lay said.

"So how about Tao and Chen, are they not your friends?" No answer for a while, Lay was looking to the table again, but this time he wasn't about to start crying again. "And what about Kris? And me? We are friends aren't we?" he continued, causing Lay to look up again, his chocolate brown eyes looking into Suho’s.

"Look, you're fine, " he said smiling just a little. Lay said nothing for a while till he mumbled a barely audible: "Thank you."

"That's what friends are for right?" the other answered, squeezing Yixing’s hands again, then remembering something. "How about you join us on Saturday?" he asked smiling at the younger.

Lay, however, looked sceptical: "Won't I just bother you guys?"

"No you won't, let me just call Kai to ask if it's ok, ok?" Suho replied getting out his phone to quickly call his friend, deliberately putting him on speaker so Lay would know he didn't have anything against him joining on Saturday.

"Hey Suho," Kai said when he picked up the phone.

"Hey Kai, quick question, can Lay join us on Saturday?"

"Ahem, sure, he needs to share a room with someone though," Kai answered quickly.

"Should be fine, thanks. See you tomorrow," the older replied getting a "Sure, see you," back before Kai hung-up the phone.

"Who would want to share a room with me?" Lay questioned, looking like Kai had suggested he could only join if he passed physics with 100 points.

"Don't worry, we'll make a group chat and see who's with who," Suho answered eye rolling. Pulling out his phone and somewhat quickly creating a group chat with all of them except Chen, remembering he had no phone, writing: >>I invited Lay on Saturday, so we are quite many now. Please write in the chat who you'll be sharing a bed with so Kai can plan a bit.<<

 

The first to answer was Kai himself, writing: >>There are 4 rooms plus mine<< Followed almost instantly by Luhan suggesting: >>Chenmin?? ;)<<

The answer from Xiumin followed so shortly after Suho wasn’t even quite sure how the other was able to type that fas. >>Stop the ship names NOW! And yes, Chen's with me :P <<

>> <3<3<3 << was all Luhan had to reply to that.

>>Stop. It. Now!<< Xiumin complained, both of them already averting from the original conversation though it amused Suho quite a bit watching them bicker in the group chat.

I again didn’t take Luhan long to respond saying: >>says shipper Nr. 1<< only to get a Smiley-emoji with a stuck out tongue in response.

It was Kai who eventually led the conversation back to the topic asking: >>Luhan, are you sharing with Sehun?<< to get a quick >>Sure :)<< in response, immediately followed by three heat emojis from Xiumin.

It was again Kai to lead the conversation back to its original purpose posting: >>@Baekhyun @Chanyeol @Kris how about you?<<

>>Don't care, whatever is most convenient<< Kris responded in typical Kris fashion, followed by Chanyeol replying: >>I can stay with Lay I guess.<<

 

"Wanna share with Chanyeol?" Suho asked Lay who was following the conversation on his own phone. "You can also stay with me or Kris if you want," Suho offered.

"Chanyeol is fine," he said quickly as if he was trying to make the least amount of effort humanly possible. Maybe he was actually going for that...

 

 

Suho replied on his behalf writing: >>Lay's ok with that<<

>>How do you know?<< was the first thing anyone had to say about it, coming from Luhan of course. Who else would care this much about room dividing, but after all Lay was his best friend so it was probably good that he cared this much.

>>He’s with me right now.<< Suho clarified quickly to quickly get a response from Luhan reading: >>Oh, well then...<<

Kai, already back on his mission to get the information they had asked for texted: >>@Baekhyun so you're sharing my room, k?<< only for Sehun to respond >>He isn't online so I assume his battery died... Like always ;) <<

 

Suho and Lay didn't leave the Cafe until the sun had set down and Suho's mother had called him if he was already home or needed a ride home.

"They had a teacher’s conference today, that's why she's still in school," Suho explained. "Are you taking the bus or are your parents going to pick you up?" he asked while they were walking the short distance back to school.

"Bus," Yixing mumbled quietly. The parking lot was already quite empty, Miss Kim was sitting in the car waiting for her son to show up.

"Lay, do you need a ride home?" she asked when seeing him and her son walking together.

"I'm taking the bus, it's fine," he said but Suho knew his mom would insist, cause that's just who she was.

"Do you live far?" she asked leaning a bit out of the opened window.

"Half an hour by school-bus, the public bus takes forty-five minutes," he answered, Suho meanwhile trying to figure out what district that could possibly be.

"Get in, I'll drive you," his mom insisted, Suho quickly pushing Lay towards the door before he could subject.

"Where do you live?" she asked, Lay looking down again, hiding his face. Was he embarrassed?

"River district," he mumbled, hiding his face. Oh... The shock was written all over mother and sons faces, but she was the first to get out of her thoughts, turning around in the driver seat, looking at the street while starting the car.

"Where there?" she asked, but Suho was sure she didn't actually know her way around in this part of town.

"Main street, I can tell you," he mumbled, quietly looking out of the window, thus avoiding any and every eye contact with his classmate sitting only a few centimetres next to him.

 

Suho had never been to water-district. It was the neighbouring district to the one Kyungsoo and Chen lived in and the reason their neighbourhood’s reputation wasn't that great. There was a river flowing right through, giving the part of town its name. The river was where the prostitutes usually waited for customers. Where the drugs were dealt. Suho had never even thought about people living there other than dealers and women and men selling their bodies. But it made sense, if there were kids there, south high would be the nearest school. Suho noticed how little he actually knew about Lays life, what were his parents like? And what did they do for a living that they were living there? So many unanswered questions he had, but knew couldn't ask. Not now.

His mother dropped Lay off in front of an old building, not looking like it would withstand any public tests for building safety and they watched Lay enter before they drove off. Suho was still sitting on the back seat where he had sat with Lay just minutes ago.

"Did you know?" his mother asked him while driving, obviously referring to Lays living situation.

"No, I didn't," he answered truthfully.

"So much we don't know," she said and her son couldn't agree more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys,  
> I'm back after taking a short break because last week was crazy hectic, Uni started again and on top of that, I drove 300km to my sister for her birthday and back the next day.  
> Hope you liked the chapter though. Also, pick your murder weapons for that teacher carefully ^-< (I'm joking of course)  
> See you then  
> XOXO


	14. secret meetings, evil plans, sleepovers and snapbacks

The principal was sitting in her office at around 10:35, already the second period for the students, doing some administration work when she heard a knock at the door.

"Come in," she screamed because the room had great sound isolation and barely anything that happened inside was audible on the other side of the door. She was expecting another teacher, a college or maybe a staff member to come in since all students should be in class right now, but in came a student she wasn't familiar with. A south high student, average height and build, bleached hair, a pretty face. She guessed he had to be in grade two, but she couldn't say for sure.

"Why are you not in class?" she asked. He was still standing by the door, looking uncomfortable, to say the least.

"I need to talk to you," he said with determination. His body language and the tone of his voice didn't match. A slight accent was audible when he was speaking, making Miss Kim wonder if he could be one of the other Chinese students? She already knew Lay, Luhan and Tao and she had briefly met Jackson, there were still two more she didn't know yet.

"And you are?" she asked, standing up and gesturing the other over to the couches she had sat on with Lay a few days ago.

"Mark," he introduced himself.

"Oh, from Taiwan right?" she asked. His name was familiar, so he was one of the Chinese students.

"Yes Ma'am," he replied, sitting down opposite of her.

"What do you need to talk about?" she asked smiling, deciding to scold him for skipping class after listening to what he had to say.

"A teacher," he said.

"And that is so important you couldn't wait for the break?" she questioned.

"I don't know your office hours and yes, that important," he replied.

"Then what about him?" she questioned, trying to make sense of his serious attitude. Was this just a usual complaint?

"You should first know, I was a prefect student at south high, people trust me with their problems knowing I don't tell, and I won't. I cannot and will not reveal who I am talking about," he said serious, no hint of a joke in his voice.

"Ok, but know there are things I cannot do if I don't know who this is concerning," the principal said, but Mark just went on: "There is a physics teacher, I believe his name is Nahm, but I don't know him myself, he is being inappropriate with a student."

"Inappropriate? In what way?" she asked, trying to follow the others explanation.

"Touching a student inappropriately," Mark said, no hint of a joke in his face.

"In a way I think is not legal in Taiwan and therefore most likely also not legal in Korea." Silence followed his words.

"You are trying to tell me Mr Nahm molested someone? A student?" Miss Kim asked, not sure what to say or do.

"Exactly," the student answered.

"These are serious accusations, Mark, you know that right?" she said hesitantly.

"I know," he answered. Nothing for a while, then he asked: "So are you going to do nothing about it?" He locked eyes with his principal, trying to look for something in there.

"Honestly? Whether I want to or not, I don't think I can do anything about this. You have no proof, not even the name of the student making the accusations, Mr Nahm has never had any complaints before and I cannot file a police report based on nothing but third-party reports," she tried to reason, but she could see in her students face that she lost him.

"Well then, I'm sorry I asked," he said and stood up.

"Wait a moment Mark," Miss Kim said, trying to hold him back but he simply slapped her hand away and walked towards the door, escaping the room that brought nothing but disappointment with him.

 

 

 

"No food today?" Sehun asked as soon as Luhan had sat down next to him at the lunch table, noticeable to him the lack of a food plate. To him, it felt like the Chinese boy had already lost a little bit of weight from not eating yesterday.

"I forgot my lunch money," Luhan answered while snuggling into the others side.

"I can borrow you some," he immediately offered but Luhan just waved it off.

"I will never learn it if I don't suffer a bit!" But to Sehun this just felt wrong, he shouldn't be starving because he forgot something, nobody should. Why did he feel like he should be punished in the first place? But because he had no idea how to argue against that Sehun tried his best to just leave it at that and focus on other topics, even though the bitter taste of worry about his boyfriend's weight and health was still on his tongue.

"How about meeting next week at my house for some swimming lessons?" he asked winking.

"Sure," Luhan smiled looking up at the taller in this cute way that just made him want to cup his face and kiss him, claim him as his own.

"So, you also have a pool at your house?" Luhan asked curiously. He had never been to Sehun’s house, never seen where he lived.

"Yep, actually all of us have," he said referring to his SM-high friends.

"Spoiled brats," the older joked getting poked into his sides for that.

"How does your home look like?" Sehun asked curiously.

"Normal I guess, I live in a small house, we have a small garden, my room is quite average I guess," he said shoulder shrugging. "I am considered one of the rich kids in south high."

"Really?" he asked curiously.

"Well, not like Tao, but for south high standards I am considered rich."

"Tao?"

"His family is quite well off, they also have a pool. I am pretty sure his family is the only one of south-high students that can even remotely think of affording such luxury," Luhan explained.

"Then why is Tao in south-high to begin with? If his parents can afford better schools, why south-high?" Sehun questioned.

"He was there for the language program," the Chinese boy just shrugged. Sehun didn't ask what exactly that was and why it was at south-high, to begin with, maybe he should have, but he’d rather change the topic to something he was more interested in Luhan’s life. Everything about him, every little detail the other would drop Sehun absorbed like a sponge. Man, he was in too deep.

 

Tao was not sitting with the group today, instead, Jongin saw him sitting with some of the older south-high students at a table on the other side of the canteen. He didn't know any of them, but that didn't say a lot, he barely knew the names of his new classmates. Kyungsoo who was sitting next to him; Luhan’s side, the one not permanently occupied with Sehun, had been taken by Lay. For once Kyungsoo as not sleeping with his head on the table, he was looking blankly at a book for math, not fooling anybody into thinking he was actually learning.

"Who are the guys Tao is sitting with? Do you know them?" Kai asked to start a conversation.

"Jackson is the one to his left, Jackson’s boyfriend Mark is to his right and Bambam is the third one talking to him," the older stated looking up from the book to have a quick glance at them.

"The same Mark you were searching for yesterday?" he questioned.

"Yep, that's prefect Mark," Soo confirmed.

"Well he isn't a prefect anymore," Kai argued but the other simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Officially maybe, but unofficially he still is. Cause we go to him, we wouldn't go to anyone else," Kyungsoo stated.

Trying to change the topic, because this conversation was not really going anywhere Kai asked something he had noticed yesterday already but had not had the opportunity to ask for: "Have you lost weight?" Soo’s pants have always been a bit big for him, the material quite lose around his bony legs, but in the last days, it seemed to become more visible. His collarbones also stuck out more than before, revealing more of the bones of his shoulders.

"Maybe, I don't own a scale, so I don't know," Kyungsoo shrugged.

"Maybe you should eat a bit more, you know, you seem a bit too skinny," Jongin suggested trying to me saddle but failing miserably.

"I don't see how my weight is your business, but ok...," the other replied with a dark glare at Kai.

"I didn't want to..."

"It's fine, whatever," Kyungsoo said adding: "It's just honestly annoying that you SM kids always involve yourself into everybody's business!" And with that Kyungsoo turned to Chen, trying to involve him into a conversation so he didn't need to face the awkwardness that would follow after the cold things he just said to Jongin to make sure his secrets were kept. Looking at the others guilty face made Kyungsoo feel sorry for what he had said, but he needed to make sure his secrets wouldn't be exposed so he did what he needed to do.

 

Right before the end of the break, he saw Mark and Jackson go around the canteen, talking to various former south-high students, whispering something into their ear. Kyungsoo knew what that meant so he wasn't surprised when Mark finally made his way to their table, first whispering something in Luhan’s ear. He nodded, then he went to Kyungsoo straight away, probably relying on Luhan to tell Lay and Chen.

"Meeting after extracurricular, 5 pm, bathroom on the third floor of this building," he whispered into the youngers ear, getting a quiet nod in reply. "Tell Chanyeol," he added before leaving again.

"What the hell was that?" Suho asked, Luhan and Kyungsoo just shrugging with their shoulders.

"Nothing really," the Chinese boy lied. Well, currently they didn't know what it was, but there was no way it was nothing when they all had a secret meeting the same day, but number one priority was to make sure nobody, but especially Suho, knew anything.

"I don't believe a single word you say," Suho answered and gave both of them an annoyed look.

"Honestly, it's not your business," Kyungsoo said. For once it was him and not Luhan putting Suho in his place. The rave haired mainly did it to keep his friend out of trouble after all that happened last week. He hadn't talked to him, but he knew Luhan and had seen the chocking marks, they had never been this visible before, so he had to shield him just a little for now, especially now that he was running on an empty stomach again: Punishment for failing class, as it had been for years...

He understood more than anybody why he would never accept the food from others, why he would never show how vulnerable he was during those times, but Kyungsoo hoped he would, so his body could recover from the fourteen days of starvation only two weeks ago. He didn't know how the older got through this. How he could survive. Two days, two days was the maximum Kyungsoo had ever made it before resorting to stealing, begging or other things. He had to honestly admire Luhan and how much he could suffer without letting it show.

 

 

 

Telling Xiumin he had no time after extracurricular class turned out to be harder than expected because he was a naturally curious person.

"I have to talk to Mark about something," Chen tried to explain.

"About what?" the older wanted to know, causing Chen to sigh. Xiumin’s gaze became stronger, more and more filled with curiosity.

"I don't know exactly… Mark wants to talk to me, not the other way around," Chen explained truthfully.

"So can I join?" the older asked.

"It's probably a private matter, so no," Chen exclaimed, watching his boyfriend's expression change.

"Are you seriously jealous right now?" he questioned irritated.

"Ahem, you are secretly meeting with a probably cute boy I don't know; talking about 'private matters' in secret, how does that not sound shady to you?" he ranted.

"First: it's a group thing, Kyungsoo will be there, so will Luhan, second: Mark has a boyfriend, who will probably also be there, third: I don't cheat! You're being ridiculous," Chen replied annoyed. How dare Xiumin accuse him of that! Where did these trust issues come from all the sudden?

"Then why can't I join?" Xiumin asked annoyed. Chen signed: "It's a south-high thing ok?" The other just raised both eyebrows, rolled his eyes and sighed: "Well then, see you tomorrow."

And with that, he stormed off, clearly angry with Chen, who really didn't know what to do or say. He could only hope the other had cooled off till tomorrow, or the sleepover would be a long day for him. Well, at least he still had Luhan and Chanyeol if Xiumin decided not to forgive him and still be angry.

 

Even though the bathroom on the third floor was quite big, when it filled with all the 159 students of south high, it was crammed, to say the least. A lot of kids were simply sitting on the ground, so close to each other, their thighs were touching. Lay sat against the wall, Luhan between his legs, with his back leaning on Lay’s chest. Chen had decided to sit there with them on their right side, Tao sitting to their left. Kyungsoo was one of the last to enter the room, having no choice but to either stand where he was or sit between Chen’s legs just like Luhan did between Lay’s. Chanyeol and Mark both sat on the sink opposite of them. A few kids sat down in front of the door, making sure it couldn't be opened from the outside when Mark finally began to speak.

"So, I need you to keep all of these things secret, but I assume you all know that already, so let me get right into what has happened," he said, getting off the sink and walking the few steps he could without stepping on anybody’s feet or legs. "On Thursday a student told me privately about a thing going on in this school, and I will not name who it was, but in essence: There is a teacher in this school who decided to molest one of us."

A murmur ran through the room, echoing from the wall. Luhan was quietly translating for Tao, while Kyungsoo evaluated what had happened on Thursday during sports. It had to be Tao. It had to! The timeline made sense, that's where the crying came from, that's what made him break. Kyungsoo bit his plump lips. He obviously couldn't tell anybody, but just the fact that he knew who it was made it worse. A teacher had done something to a freaking first grader! A freshman, a sixteen-year-old that didn't speak his language! Knowing this made Kyungsoo rage inside.

Mark lifted his arm to signal the others to be quiet, then continuing: "So today I went to the principal," a few noises of shock, but Mark continued: "and told her what I knew and that I couldn't give her all the information." Kyungsoo could see him taking in a deep breath and swallowing. His Adam's apple moved visibly, his hands were nervously grabbing his own shirt. "And she told me there is nothing she will do," he ended.

"What the fuck?" one of the younger students screamed out.

"What do you mean!?" one of the third graders said. A few more people chimed in, till Jackson, who had stood up from sitting on the sinks next to Baekhyun, came to his boyfriend's help, quieting the room.

"She said she needs evidence and a name to the student who made the accusation. She needs to get the authorities involved and with the current knowledge she cannot do that," Jackson explained.

"Can't she just fucking fire this man?" Chen interrupted.

"She probably could, but I think she simply doesn't believe me," Mark said looking to the ground. He was the soft one, the caring one, but Kyungsoo and most others knew how sensible he was because of his fucked up past. He let other people’s struggles get to him, and it was clear being unable to help Tao was getting to him, having been in similarly dark places in the past.

When finally the room calmed down again Chanyeol was the one to raise his hand and ask what everyone had on their tongue: "So what is the plan? What can we do, not knowing who the victim is?"

"Well," Jackson said his arm protectively around his boyfriend. "If she won't fire him, then let's make his life a living hell, till he quits himself!" A loud whistle came from Bambam, otherwise, it stayed quiet in the room. Now Mark took the word again, explaining: "So the teacher in question is called Nahm, he teaches Physics so some of you might not know him."

"He's a cunt to all the Chinese students," one of Kyungsoo's classmates said.

"Yea, he graded Luhan worse than me even though we had the same answers. I know because I copied," another one said. More complaints came in before Mark spoke again.

"To make sure we are all on the same page: what he was doing was grabbing a student, grinding on him, stroking thighs and private parts and threatening worse to come." Chanyeol was visibly dry heaving, he literally looked like he was about to throw up into his mouth. A few profanities were shouted, a few older students said something about kicking the teacher's ass.

"So let's make his life a living hell," Jackson said loudly, most students screaming in agreement.

"Well, he's now at war with all of us, let's see how long he will last before running," Chen screamed into the creed, few people were cheering.

"Let's make him run," Bambam said throwing a fist into the air. Mr Nahm had till Monday before all hell would break loose...

 

 

 

For some reason, Suho couldn't explain his mom had insisted on driving him to Jongin’s house even though their houses were not that far and Suho could have easily taken a bike or even walked.

"I want to discuss something with his father," she had said, but that seemed stranger than any other explanation. His dad was a cop, what would a school principal have to discuss with him? But Suho didn't ask about anything else, knowing he would most likely not get an answer to begin with. He was just grateful he didn't have to walk anywhere. He was really early, so far only Sehun was there, chilling at the pool with Kai, so he decided to join and get some distraction from the hot weather while his mother could talk to Kai’s father about whatever she wanted to talk about.

 

 

"So what do you want to know?" Mr Kim asked while Suho’s mother stirred her coffee.

"I need some advice on what I am legally supposed to do," she said while pouring more milk into her cup.

"Sure, what about?" he asked. She took a deep breath before starting: "A student made the accusation to another student that a teacher had made sexual advances to him." The officer's eyes grew wide hearing this information while Miss Kim continued: "So this student, Mark, came to me telling me that another student, most likely one of the South-high kids since he used to be a prefect in there, told him he was molested by a teacher in school."

A moment of silence followed her explanation. "Do you believe him?" Mr Kim asked.

"I honestly don't know. I know this guy, he is a good teacher and a great colleague, but I can't figure out why Mark should be lying about this thing. He doesn't even know this teacher," the principal replied confused.

"Well, legally we would have to come for Mark because he made unfounded accusation bordering to slander," Kai’s father said, but Miss Kim was vehemently shaking her head.

"Please don't. I honestly don't think it is Mark that's lying. Maybe the kid he got the information from, but my intuition doesn't help me calm down. I mean it, it's like a little voice asking me what would happen if Mark was right."

"Well, you can either pursue this, but this WILL get your student in trouble especially if he insists on not revealing his source, or you can simply forget about it. You technically do not have a victim here, there is no person saying 'I have been inappropriately touched' so there is no obligation to bring this to the police. There is no evidence and this will just get many people in trouble and possibly get your school a bad reputation," Kai’s dad explained, being the police chief he was. Miss Kim nodded slowly, thinking through this whole explanation.

"Well, thank you, I really appreciate your input!" He smiled and shrugged his shoulder.

"Always a pleasure." The conversation turned to lighter topics before Miss Kim decided it was time to go home, but the feeling of guilt for ignoring a student’s concern, how weird and unfounded it might be, still stuck to her and wouldn't disappear.

 

 

 

Lay, Luhan and Chen had been the only ones to stay clear of the pool in Kai’s garden, declaring they were just not good swimmers or in Luhan’s case that he was done with drowning experiences every weekend. Sehun had been relieved to see Luhan eating again, after the two days he had skipped lunch. He couldn't say for sure, but he though Luhan had lost a bit of weight again and that concerned him for all the reasons.

They had occupied the living room while Kai’s parents were upstairs, Kai saying his room would be a bit too small for ten people, sitting on couches arranged in a square shape, a small table in the middle. Luhan was sitting on Sehun’s lap on a single armchair, the younger’s arms twisted around his small middle. Lay sat close to them on one of the sofas, next to him Suho, so close in fact their thighs were touching. Kai was crammed onto the same couch while Chen and Xiumin occupied a small one for themselves, Chen more lying than sitting, Xiumin lying on his back with his head resting on Chen’s lap. Kris, however, sat between Baekhyun and Chanyeol, looking a bit awkward as usual.

"I think we need to bring back the question round from two weeks ago," Baekhyun suggested cheekily.

"Yes! It's just fair when everybody has to suffer equally," Chen chimed in, Luhan giggling loudly.

"Guys you're being mean," Xiumin said, but Chen just replied: "Same rules for everybody!" And then to Lay and Chanyeol: "So everyone can ask one anonymous question you have to answer honestly!" Baekhyun was already handing out pieces of paper.

"And we will be inappropriate as fuck," Chen screamed excited while Chanyeol visibly blushed.

"This is going to be soo awkward," Luhan mumbled into Sehun’s ear.

"Don't worry about it, last time wasn't that bad," Sehun mumbled but Luhan interrupted saying: "You don't know Chen! Trust me on this one!"

 

"I want Chanyeol to start," Suho said, taking notice of the way Lay plunged back into the sofa trying to make himself invisible.

"Don't worry so much, we don't judge anyone here," he said. That wasn't completely true but because Suho was well aware that he was the Nr. One in judging people in this group and he wasn't judging Lay, so it was not a complete lie.

"Chen...," Yixing mumbled glancing quickly at the slightly too happy younger boy. "What about him?" the other questioned quietly. "He's soo... His question will be sexual and explicit," the Chinese boy said, leaning a bit against Suho’s shoulder as if he was a pet longing for some companionship. And the strange thing about it: Suho enjoyed it.

Chanyeol meanwhile picked his first sheet of paper out of the ones Kai had placed before him, reading: "Have you ever done something illegal." Chen laughed out loud at this one: "Well, drinking, trust passing, stealing alcohol, animating other minors to drink alcohol... And that was just last Saturday!" Sehun noticed Luhan and Lay both looked significantly less amused by all of this.

"Did you at least get in trouble with your parents for that?" Suho asked visibly annoyed. He felt Lay tensing up next to him so he placed an arm around his shoulder lightly running his hand up and down his arm. He didn't know why Lay was feeling so jumpy today and what exactly about his words had irritated him, but thanks to Chen and his unbelievable loud-mouth he quickly learned what was going on.

"Well, obviously he did. Unlike me and Lay who got away am I right," Chen screamed reaching over to Lay to get a very hesitant high five, his face definitely not mirroring the happiness of Chen’s.

"You were also there?" Suho asked leaning forward to have a better look at Lay’s face, but the other was turning away from him. Again it was Chen who bubbled: "Ahem, yes, obviously. Lay, Tao and I got away before you guys could catch us. Quite unfortunate that they got Luhan and Chanyeol instead of us two, cause their parents punish them for stuff whereas we can get away with that!" Suho nodded slowly, this was new information for him. He kind of assumed that Lay was just like Luhan somewhat afraid of his parents, that would have explained his breakdown about the bad exams, but this didn't seem to be the case.

"Pick another one Chanyeol, before this gets into a full-blown interrogation," Kai said quickly, knowing Suho’s curiosity and persistence.

"Top or bottom," he read, blushing visibly.

"I got that question too last time," Luhan said while taking a bite of a cookie. Kai had placed a box of treats onto the small table, deliberately close to the older, knowing Sehun worried about his weight and eating habits a bit.

"Top," Chanyeol quickly said grabbing the next sheet of paper.

"Do you know who Mark was talking about?" he read, groaning a little and then answering: "Nope, not a clue."

Before he had a chance to read the next paper Suho had chimed in questioning: "What was that about?" Chanyeol looked a bit like he was caught with his head in the honeypot, but he quickly recovered saying: "Mark asked us about something someone claimed happened and I guess everyone is curious who said it."

"This made absolutely no sense but moving on...," Kris said while handing him the next paper.

"Who in this room is the most fuck-able?" he read. "No picking Luhan, he's taken," Chen said as if he knew Chanyeol would say that knowing Luhan would not think about it too much of it. He blushed again while thinking about an answer, his head becoming pinker than actual skin colour again. Xiumin wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, causing, even more, blushing from the younger. Luhan was giggling while also leaning his head back to whisper into Sehun’s ear: "We all think he has a crush on Baekhyun! They have been really close lately!" Sehun smiled whispering into the other's ear: "Good for him cause Baekhyun might have a thing for him too."

"Ahem...," Chanyeol struggled before saying: "Baekhyun." And quickly grabbing the next paper and reading: "Do you like Sm-high or South-high better and why?" He looked a bit like he was thinking about this than answered: "Sm-high."

"Really?" Chen asked surprised.

"Yea, I think the lessons are better, there's more and better material and the school itself is just so much nicer than the old building."

Quickly he grabbed the next paper to continue. "What about yourself do you like the least?" he read, taking a moment to think about that. Baekhyun was listening closely while also pretending not to. His heart was racing faster than before, ever since his name had been passed around during an earlier question. Park Chanyeol thought he was... Well, fuck-able, but that could probably be interchanged with cute, so that meant he had a chance!!!

"I think what I hate the most about myself is being too skinny... Or that I am such a pushover," Chanyeol said after moments of evaluation. Silence followed that revelation until he grabbed the next paper to read, his head turning completely red after having a glance at it. This was far beyond the point of blushing and actually seemed a bit concerning. Kris had a glance on the paper immediately failing to resist the urge and loudly hitting his own forehead with his hands.

"Probably Chen," Luhan giggled.

"Yep, should be mine," Chen laughed, grinning cheekily.

"Favourite sex positions and why," Kris read as if he was suffering from reading this out loud. Baekhyun was immediately blushing just as hard as Chanyeol, Luhan seemed to be hiding his face in Sehun’s chest, having shifted to sitting sideways on his lap and Lay uncomfortably shivered, playing with his hands in his lap. Suho, his arm still around the younger, pulled him slightly closer whispering:

"If you don't want to answer something like this you don't have to, ok?" Chen and Xiumin were meanwhile balling their eyes out in laughter, so were Kai and Sehun. If they thought Xiumin was inappropriate, he might have just found his master...

"We're waiting, Chanyeol," Xiumin said smiling mischievously.

"Yea, what about the question Chanyeol?" Chen teased.

"Ahem, so...," he stuttered visibly uncomfortable.

"So?" Kai started teasing.

"Ahem," Chanyeol started, probably deciding to get it over with as fast as possible, so he answered quickly: "I like my partners riding me best, cause I can see them." Chen was laughing the loudest nearly screaming: "So you like watching pretty little boys bouncing on your dick! Do you make them wear your snapbacks?" Luhan sighed loudly: "Shut up Chen," while Chanyeol looked like he literally forgot how to breathe in shock.

"What's the snapback thing about?" Kai questioned loudly, Lay hiding his face in Suho’s shoulder mumbling loud enough for them all to hear: "There was a rumour in middle school that Chanyeol had a fetish for snapbacks." Kai and Xiumin nearly fell off the couch in laughter; Sehun was also chuckling, but due to Luhan still sitting on his lap he was trying to contain himself.

Kris handed the still shook Chanyeol the last paper hoping to quit this awkward conversation. "Worst teacher and why?" Chanyeol read hesitantly, his head still red from blushing, but now the relief of a normal question lingered onto his expression. "Ahem, I don't really like our math teacher, I think his explanations are bad and I never get it," he said slowly.

"If you need tutoring you can just ask me," Suho chimed in, cause he wasn't in Chanyeol’s math class he didn't know the other was struggling in the subject.

"I'd rather learn on my own...," he mumbled, then trying to avert all the unwanted attention away from him by gesturing to the unread sheets of paper in front of Lay.

Hesitating he drew one out of the pile, opening it slowly reading: "What is your family situation like?" His accent seemed to become thicker when he read things out loud Suho noticed. Interested about the question, that's why he wrote it down in the first place, he waited for Lay’s answer. He really wanted to find out if there was something in his family life that would explain his jumpy behaviour, his panic attacks or his terrible self-esteem.

"I live with my mum, my dad lives in China. I get to see him from time to time, but my parents aren't close. They only talk because of me," he said looking at the table biting his lower lip.

"How are they like? What are their jobs? Come on, you have to give us a bit more details than that," Suho insisted.

"My mum works as a waiter and others stuff, she's mostly not home. She is always worried about me," he said smiling dumbly, showing his dimples. Suho had never really noticed this little detail about him, but now that he did, he found it unbelievably adorable. "My dad owns a club, which he's managing. He thinks I need to toughen up a bit," Yixing said slowly reaching out for another paper when Chen chimed in: "Well, at least your parents didn't try to pray away the gay!" Chanyeol was the only one laughing about this, Xiumin, Suho, but also the rest of the SM kids just stared at him perplex.

"Quite useless in retrospect," he added smirking and gesturing to Lay to go on with his questions. He seemed to be a bit too hyper today, but also Suho was sure one of those uncomfortable questions he was just asking so he could have a good laugh was in the pile of papers and Suho was not happy about that. For some reason he felt the urge to shield Lay from all those things, for now, just to make sure he would get a little bit better. At least that's what he told himself.

"How many Exes to you have, who is your favourite and why?" he read looking confused.

"Ex的意思是'前男友'," (Ex means former boyfriend) Luhan said without Lay even having to say anything.

"Oh," he said out loud, the understanding written all over his face. Luhan however answered before Lay even had the chance to do so himself stating: "Two, his favourite is Chen Xiang cause he wasn't a fucking asshole and didn't treat him like garbage!" A moment of nothing but silence till Luhan added: "Don't you dare disagree with that Yixing!" The other looked around with a shocked face, quickly answering: "Luhan’s is right... So moving on…"

He quickly grabbed the next piece of paper; Suho noticed he was a lot less nervous than before, maybe because he forgot about the raunchy questions that could still be in there, maybe because he actually started to loosen up a little. If it was the first, he would have to endure a setback because the next question was "Top or bottom" again.

"都可以," (both are fine) he said looking to Luhan with a questioning face. "He's a verse," the older answered for him.

"Well that's a new one," Xiumin exclaimed interested.

"Well Lay doesn't really have a type either, he just falls in love with whoever gives him some love," Luhan said Chen adding with a smile and shoulder shrugging: "He's a verse in every matter."

"So don't be too nice to him Suho or he'll fall for you," Chanyeol chimed in smiling mischievously.

"Well then we should warn Baekhyun to not wear snapbacks so you won't jump him," Chen countered, Luhan and Xiumin bursting out in laughter, Luhan actually getting up from Sehun’s lap to give the younger a high-five for such a good comeback.

"Moving on," Suho said handing Lay the next sheet of paper, his arm still wrapped around the other's shoulder. Was it true though? Was he risking having Lay fall for him? And if yes, did he care?

"Are you unhappy at Sm-high?" Lay read softly, staring at the paper for a moment thinking about an answer. Suho had already figured out that Lay was the worst liar of all the south high kids and that he would rather not say or leave important information out than lie, cause he knew he would probably get caught.

"I don't think I am generally unhappier in SM than in south high, I guess I am just a bit more stressed and stuff...," he answered. It seemed genuine to Suho, but he was curious, if he wasn't particularly unhappy, had he always had those panic attacks? Was he always this depressed? Or was that the stress he was talking about? So many questions lingered in his mind he could only hope to be able to ask him a few of them at some point.

"Who is the most fuck-able person in this room?" Lay read looking a little awkward.

"Back to Luhan is not accepted as an answer," Chen screamed. What had this kid had in his coffee to be this loud today? The Chinese boy was scanning the room to search for an answer only to then shrugged his shoulder saying: "I don't really have a type. You’re all great to me." And he smiled that carefree cute smile again, showing his dimples and this childish happiness that Suho first discovered today, but absolutely adored already.

"Ok, fair point, so how about this: Would you... Who is the most annoying one in the room?" Chen said loudly. "Would you fuck Suho?"

"Suho is a top," Xiumin corrected automatically.

"Ok, then would you let Suho fuck you?" Chen specified smiling cheekily while raising an eyebrow at Lay. The other quickly looked at his seat neighbour with his dumbfounded gaze that he always had in math and that made him look cuter than usual, before replying: "Sure."

"Well you dated Yun Taehyun so we all know you have no standards," Chen teased a bit.

Now Suho actually got a bit curious about what this person was like and why nobody seemed to like him. It was confusing to him, that not even Chanyeol or Chen had anything good to say about that one of Yixing’s Exes, Luhan was one thing, but nobody?

Suho watched Lay carefully opening a folded piece of paper reading loudly: "Who is your least favourite teacher and why?"

He took a deep breath before answering: "Mr Nahm from physics class."

"Why?" Kris immediately asked.

"I think he doesn't like me. Not just because I am not a good student, but I think he doesn't like me in general," Lay tried to explain, squishing his hands in his lap. He seemed so nervous again. Suho had quickly learned how to read Yixing’s behaviours, it was definitely helpful that the younger wore his heart on his sleeve, but still, he felt confident saying he knew what Lay was feeling about 95% of the time. If he just knew why the Chinese boy was feeling that way...

Lay was picking the next paper, only having two of them left, Suho still had his arm around Lay’s shoulder, he was leaning forward, his head resting on the other's shoulder from behind so he could have a glance at the paper. A glance was enough to make him loudly sigh and let go of the other's shoulder in favour of quietly facepalming.

"What's your favourite sex position and why," Lay read hesitantly, Chanyeol, Xiumin, Chen, Kai and Sehun all really couldn't keep themselves from laughing out loud, while Kris and Suho quietly regretted having these kinds of friends and Luhan was hiding his blushing face in Sehun’s shirt again. Lay just shrugged with his shoulders, motioning to just go on with the last question, but Chen wasn't having any of this.

"Nana, tell us or we will find out," he screamed, getting up to throw a couch pillow at Lay.

"How?" the other answered while throwing the pillow back.

"Luhan, quickly, call Chen Xiang before he can get your phone," Chen said, longing for Lay’s hips to pin him down before he could get up and stop Luhan from what he was doing. But despite Luhan still blushing from the awkward topic he quickly got up from Sehun’s lap, running to safety while also calling someone on his phone.

"Help me Chanyeol," Chen ordered and for some reason, maybe because the taller wanted Lay to suffer just as much as he did earlier, he came to help Chen pinning Yixing to the carpet.

"喂?"(hello) an unfamiliar voice came through the speakers of Luhan’s cell phone. Lay looked utterly defeated, lying on the ground between couch and couch table, pinned down by his classmates.

"喂你好，陈翔你费神说韩语吗?" (hello, Chen Xiang, would you mind speaking Korean?) Luhan said into the phone.

"Sure what's up Lulu?" he replied, his voice seemed a bit deeper than before, but maybe that just appeared this way because if his thick Chinese accent. He must be the one ex they were referencing earlier, the one they liked right?

"So we are playing a game, basically like truth or dare and Lay doesn't want to tell us his favourite sex positions and why they are his favourites," Luhan explained.

"So we thought you might help us out while we hold him down," Chen screamed so he could be louder than Lay trying to stop him from speaking.

"Oh, hey Jongdae," the man on the phone said while chuckling.

"Hey Chen Xiang," Chen said while covering Lay’s mouth with one hand. If Suho didn't know Luhan wouldn't do this if he thought Lay couldn't take it he would have helped Lay, but currently, he was for some odd reason more interested in the answer to probably Chen’s question.

"Well, sure, so as a top I think Lay likes how do you call that in Korean... Reverse cowgirl or something and doggie style, I guess because he just likes the visual... Let's be honest, Lay likes looking at ass while doing it," the other laughed, joined by Chanyeol, Luhan and Chen. The one on the phone sounded older than them. Suho really felt like finding out who this person was, what he did for a living, how he knew Lay and how he looked like. Just curiosity though...

"And as a bottom?" Chen asked, still muffling Lay with one of his hands.

"Well, I feel like he didn't enjoy doggy style too much, but maybe I'm projecting cause I don't enjoy it...," he said, then exchanging a few words with somebody who was probably with him in the room in quickly spoken Chinese. Kris chuckled and explained after getting confused looks from his friends: "Someone, I assume his boyfriend, asked why he never told him he doesn't like that, so he explained he just doesn't like being top in that position and then asked why he even knew all those words in Korean."

"Yep, that's my boyfriend, whoever that was, who obviously speaks some Chinese," the voice from the other end of the phone call said.

"That's one of our classmates, Kris, he is also Chinese," Luhan explained.

"Back to topic, how does Lay like to be fucked?" Chen asked bluntly.

"Missionary or spooning. He likes eye-contact, skin contact and he likes to feel loved and appreciated. Quite vanilla in that sense," Chen Xiang explained lightheartedly. Chen had let go of Lay so the other could talk again, screaming: "I will tell Yang Yang everything about you as revenge," he tried to threaten but the other was just laughing light-heartedly:

"Go on, Yang Yang is listening!"

"Chen Xiang likes being tied up and manhandled," Lay said shamelessly adding: "And he likes spanking, but just a little cause he can't handle pain that well!" A shriek could be heard from the other end of the call.

"I can't believe you actually spilt that," the other said, one could only guess how red his face must be by now.

"But he hates being chocked or things like that, if he feels like he can't breathe he will freak out," Lay added, another squealed noise from the other end.

"I hate you Lay," he uttered angrily, but at this point, most everybody was just laughing at the whole ordeal.

"感谢艺兴," (thanks Yixing) a voice other than Chen Xiang said while chuckling a bit.

"没事杨洋," (you're welcome Yangyang) he replied making kissy noises to the phone.

"大家再见," (goodbye guys) the same voice said before ending the phone call.

It took everyone approximately 10 minutes to calm down from laughing, Lay meanwhile sat back down onto the couch, staring at the table. Suho wrapped an arm around his waist, pulling him close while whispering into his ear: "Your Ex sounds fun, but why the pouting?" Lay bit his lip, still avoiding eye contact: "He thinks I'm vanilla and I think he's right and that bothers me. I don't want to be like that," he answered quietly.

"I like Vanilla. Lots of people do, it's tasty," Suho joked gaining a slight but warm smile from the other that made his heart melt a little.

"Last paper Lay," Chanyeol encouraged loudly, Suho realized that after the whole holding Lay down spectacle he had sat down next to Baekhyun, not having Kris separate them anymore.

"Do you miss China?" Lay read slowly. He bit his plump lips a little before answering: "Not really, I miss speaking Chinese, I often feel like I can't express myself the way I want to, but I don't miss China as a whole. I didn't really leave family behind either so..."

Suho was surprised at the answer, for some reason he had expected Lay to say the opposite. Maybe because he was so desperately searching for the reason of Lay’s sadness and missing his country would be a convenient and obvious one, but as Suho now knew that didn't seem to be the case.

 

 

 

The evening flew by fast, with Kris being dared to kiss Kai, Chen talking about his exes, and Baekhyun being dared to arm-wrestle Chanyeol, an absolute hopeless struggle before he was beaten by the taller. Baekhyun and Chanyeol had been the victims of a dare that stated the group had to pick two people that were currently not the ones sharing a bed and make them do that. Luhan, Chen, Xiumin, Sehun and Kai had enthusiastically voted for Baekhyun and Chanyeol to share a bed and with the other five not agreeing on any other pair, so they were easily overvoted. The only one looking actually unhappy about that seemed to be Lay, who now had to share a room with Kai, who also felt a little awkward about this, being he had barely ever talked to the other. When Luhan nearly fell asleep on Sehun’s shoulder they decided to quit playing games and instead go to sleep. Lay stayed seated, watching Sehun drag already half asleep Luhan out of the room and Xiuchen leaving as well. Kai was showing Chanyeol and Luhan the way, leaving him with Kris and Suho alone.

"Are you ok with sharing a bed with Kai? You can always change with one of us, you know that right?" Suho asked sitting back onto the couch next to the younger Chinese boy.

"Yea, you can sleep with me if you want to," Kris added. Both of them were a lot closer to Lay than Kai was and changing sleeping arrangements would also benefit the youngest. Lay took a while to answer, contemplating about whether or not causing the disturbance would be worth the benefits, but his shy uncomfortable side won over the rational one that was trying to convince him everything was fine.

"I'd rather sleep with one of you," Lay mumbled, ashamed of himself that he couldn't even handle sharing a room with someone other than his close friends. His father was right, he really was a whimp, a pushover, only half a man.

"So, wanna stay with me?" Suho asked and Lay just nodded, already ashamed of asking for that in the first place, way too ashamed to have conditions or preferences by now.

"Lay’s sleeping with Suho," Kris informed Kai when he came back from showing the others their rooms.

"Ok, then have a good night," Kai just said shrugging while Suho led Lay to one of the guest rooms of the luxurious house. Now Lay really started to regret being such a coward, he didn't know what to say and the whole situation was so awkward it made him wish he had stayed with Kris.

"The bathroom is next door to the right," the older told him, clearly familiar with this house. So Lay gathered his stuff and quickly went to the bathroom to escape the uncomfortable silence in the bedroom.

Looking into the big bathroom mirror all the things of today came back to him. How he felt humiliated by Chen’s question during the game and the phone call. If this would have just been the South-high kids he wouldn't even care but all those information’s being revealed to the other kids was literally a nightmare of his. One that he had had last night when he dreamed about someone spilling all those humiliating details about all the things he had done in the past to every one of the SM-kids. Lay leaned his back against the cold tile covered wall and slid down to the floor. And after all of this, all the humiliation, he was the one, not man enough to share a bed with an acquaintance like Kai. How could a single person be such a failure? All the words of his dad came to mind, driving tears into the Chinese boy's eyes. He really was the worthless wimp his father thought he was.

Lay’s glimpse, slightly foggy because of the tears, caught his bag sitting there next to the door. He could just... But what if Suho noticed? His Pyjamas were long enough to cover everything though and they were dark so nobody could see blood stains... With shaking fingers, as if he knew what he was doing was wrong and would run the risk of Suho, literally the last person he wanted to know about this, finding out, he nestled on the clip of the side pocket and found what he was searching for. His little pocket-knife his mum made him carry with him at all times because water-district was dangerous. Not that Lay thought this would help at all in a dangerous situation, but he had used it for other things somewhat often. The sharp metal blade felt familiar against his skin, like the touch of a friend you haven't seen in a while and the sharp pain that followed felt just as familiar and just as welcomed. A relief, as if the opening of skin would also let some memories out and not just the dark red substance staying the milky white skin on Yixing’s leg. It felt like with every drop of blood that oozed out of the clean cut on his upper thigh his mind became less clouded and all the bottled up feeling finally found a way out of the Chinese boy's body. It was as if the weight was lifted off his shoulders for a moment, just a brief moment because after he came down from his high he suddenly realized something: How long has he been in here? Was Suho already suspicious?

Quickly Lay changed his clothes and brushed his teeth, the material of his clothes was sticking against the three cuts on his leg. He knew how bad that was he could get an infection if some little wool particles got stuck under his skin, but for him, making sure Suho didn't get suspicious was more important than his own health. His health wasn't important, nothing about him was important!

 

Suho was already asleep when Lay quietly entered the room, the ceiling lights were off but the little bedside lamp was still on so he could find his way around in the room. Suho looked so peaceful while sleeping, his lips slightly parted, his face relaxed, lying on the side facing Lay who quickly got into the other side of the huge bed, hoping the blood on his thigh would be sufficiently absorbed by his pants so he wouldn't stain the bed sheets. Suho opened his eyes lightly when he felt the bed moving but luckily he fell right back to sleep, so Yixing didn't have to worry about explaining himself to anybody today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is freaking endless, I'm kinda sorry for that, but hey, if you are reading this you apparently made it though so good on you ^-^I hope you liked the chapter ^-^  
> University has just started and though I am trying to keep up with posting regularly I really can't promise much :( (but I'll be trying).  
> See ya'll soon and don' forget to leave a comment ^-^  
> XOXO


	15. don't get caught & do not scream

Chanyeol woke up to something heavy on his stomach, making it hard to breathe properly. Even though the curtains were closed the sunlight had already made its way through the thin material blinding the tall boy as soon as he opened his eyes. After his eyes had grown accustomed to the brightness in the room the student could find out what it was that was laying on his stomach, probably his little brother he thought, his brain not connecting the dots this early on a Sunday morning, only when he looked down it finally dawned on him.

Baekyhun was sleeping stretched out on the bed, one leg across Chanyeol’s stomach, occupying a lot more than just his part of the bed, still soundly sleeping. His face was peaceful and relaxed lying on the mattress, cause he had turned so much in the bed, the pillow was out of reach. In a tender try to lift Baekhyun’s leg from him without waking the younger he made some groaning noises before rolling over again, this time grabbing onto Chanyeol as if he was his plushy or blanket and snuggling into him. He was clearly not awake yet, there was no way Baekhyun would do these things while awake, maybe while drunk, but not in a sober state. Chanyeol was wondering: How would a drunken Baekhyun look like? Would he be the clingy type? Or the funny type?

‘Ok, focus,’ the taller told himself, trying to not get lost creepily staring at the other sleeping. Baekhyun was still clinging onto the older and without waking him up there seemed to be no way out of the current situation. Not that Chanyeol really minded, but this would be soo awkward when the other would wake up. So there was no other way then doing it himself. Very hesitantly the taller extended his arm to gently caress Baekhyun’s cheek in hopes that would wake him up.

“Just five more minutes,” he mumbled into Chanyeol’s side, still not opening his eyes.

“You can go back to sleep, just let me get up,” Chanyeol suggested quietly, not even sure Baekhyun could hear him in his half-awake state of mind. Lazily the other lifted his head, opening his eyes just a tiny slid wide to be able to see, then immediately ripping them open and jumping upwards, falling off the bed in the process. He landed backwards on his blanket which he must have kicked off the bed the night before, legs sticking up into the air. As fast as humanly possible he shifted to a less humiliating position to face Chanyeol, but just the thought of what he had just woken up to make the small boy blush. Apparently was the older not one of the people who wore shirts to bed so sleeping Baekhyun had just decided to snuggle into Chanyeol’s bare chest as if that was exactly where he was supposed to be, keeping the other from getting up, or moving in general. Why on heavens earth couldn’t he have done this to Kai or Kris or something? Years of occasionally sharing a bed with them and not once had he attacked someone in his sleep, but now with the opportunity of being close to his crush, his mind had just decided to embarrass him while sleeping.

‘Great job Baekhyun,’ he said to himself, now faced with Chanyeol looking slightly uncomfortable with the situation, Baekhyun could literally feel his face burning with all the blood rushing to his head to show everybody how embarrassed he actually was and made joking about it impossible. He had never before wished a hole would just appear in the ground so he could disappear immediately but he kinda did now…

“You like cuddling when you’re asleep,” Chanyeol simply stated sounding awkward but genuine. Baekhyun’s brain, too occupied to spread out the excess blood evenly into his face just went blank and the only thing coming out of his mouth was an incoherent blurb of syllables that didn’t form a single word in the Korean language or any existing in the world for that matter.

“What?” the other answered, causing Baekhyun to blush even harder if at all possible, then he added:

“Maybe you should get yourself one of those huge teddy bears to cuddle…”

“Great suggestion,” Baekhyun said, standing up from the ground and in an attempt to save himself from this scene saying: “I’ll just quickly go to the bathroom. Breakfast is downstairs, don’t wait for me.” Well, it was more of a: ‘Illjustquicklygotothebathroombeakfeastisdownstairsdontwaitforme’, speaking so fast he literally felt out of breath afterwards, then making a dead sprint for the door. Maybe he could just begin his new life in the bathroom. He could be one of those weird people in American television shows and just never leave the bathroom and become a loner. The fact of how reasonable of an option that currently sounded to the brown haired one made him actually question if it was maybe possible that some of the bleach his hairdresser used to make his hair this colour had seeped into his brain… well, that would explain a lot!

 

 

 

The mission was to not get caught, at least that’s what Jackson had warned every single one of them before school, but not only Kyungsoo realized very quickly that that might be harder than expected. Damn those unknowing SM students and their good behaviour. He was currently standing guard by the bushes that separated the school ground and the parking lot. Bambam had earlier spied on Mr Nahm to see what car he got and Chen may or may not be the one currently vandalizing that previously mentioned car. This was a dumb idea and they would get caught, but Kyungsoo didn’t really have a lot to worry about. At least he thought so. He hadn’t noticed the janitor staring through a tilted window until it was already too late, a loud whistle to signal Chen to run, but the big-eyed younger was sure it was pointless anyway.

It was the fifteen-minute break between second and third period and so far, at least from what Kyungsoo knew had Mr Nahm been “accidentally” pushed down stairs, elbowed, ran into, splashed with coke and made to trip over countless legs quickly and absolutely not purposefully placed in his way. The thing about punishing them would be that there were just too many people to punish and not enough dirty tables to wash because this was SM high and students here didn’t paint on their tables.

Chen actually believed he and Kyungsoo might have gotten away with vandalizing the car when he wasn’t called into the principal’s office until third-period had started, but just a single look at Suho sitting on his usual chair in English class made him reverse his current opinion. He was probably fucked! Xiumin just looked shocked, his mouth a little bit open as if he simply couldn’t believe what Chen had just done.

“You look a bit dumb when you have your mouth open like this Baozi,” Chen said while sitting down next to him, quickly placing a kiss onto the others parted lips.

“Are you actually serious?” he replied, the shock on his face turning to anger rather quickly.

“I still think you look cute, just a little dumb cute if you know what a mean,” Chen answered, but Xiumins more and more enraged face made him cut his comment short.

“What is this vendetta about?” Suho demanded to know, leaning over from his table in front of Chemins.

“Nothing,” the black haired one replied but was cut off again by Xiumin: “Bullshit! What the fuck is this crap about! Tell me or I will lose my fucking shit!” Chen literally didn’t even know soft and lovable Xiumin could have this side to him, a rage nearly scary in nature, which simply didn’t seem to match with the cute roundness of his face. That’s when Chen realized how much he was screwed.

“It’s a south high thing,” he tried to explain, but Suho was not having any of it: “Are you kidding me, Chen? So you are trying to tell me a bunch of you just decided to vandalize a teacher’s property and bully him because you guys are playing a joke on him?” That might have not been the direction Chen intended this to go, but everything making the others stop to ask further questions was a good thing, so he just went with it.

“Yep,” he said waiting for the others to react.

“You are in so much trouble, you have no idea,” Suho promised before turning around in his chair angrily staring at the blackboard in front of the class. Xiumin was at a loss for words again but Chen was fine with that. He hadn’t figured out an excuse yet, but he had one whole English class to find out what to say, cause if Suho knew, so would his mom. He had to assume there would be a meeting with the principal during lunch break and he couldn’t be more composed. He had nothing to gain or lose in this one; he was still a minor so suspending him from school was not a thing yet. He just hoped that the other ones doing the dirty work had also thought this through. Not everyone at south high was in a position where they could get caught without major consequences. Luhan couldn’t, he would be beaten till he couldn’t recognize his skin tone anymore. The older students couldn’t join because they could fear getting suspended from school entirely, but the ones like him, the ones with nothing to lose, they were there and ready to fight. Even if that meant his own boyfriend was staring at him with those big, cat-like eyes filled with nothing but anger.

 

 

 

“…Kim Jongdae, Do Kyungsoo, Lu Han, Zhang Yixing and Park Chanyeol have to come to the principal’s office in the third floor immediately,” was the end of a seemingly endless list of names their principal read out before ending the announcement seconds before the bell rang to end third-period and initiate lunch break. Suho’s face was priceless, he probably just hadn’t expected this many people to be called in at once, or he was simply surprised by Lay and Chanyeol being there. Surely Luhan getting in trouble wasn’t a surprise to him, but oh so sweet Lay, on the other hand, was probably a shock.

Chen meanwhile was mostly concerned: Concerned with Luhan’s presence on the list. There might be many others that got caught in the act, but nearly none had to face the same repercussions as Luhan would. This was not good! And what the hell did the Chinese boy do anyways? He knew how careful he had to be!

Thirty-four. Thirty-four boys were standing in the principal’s office, silently waiting for her or the dean to finally say a word.

“What is this about?” she asked after a long while of silence, greeted by even more silence.

“Justice,” Chen mumbled too quiet for Miss Kim to hear, but loud enough for Jooheon to hear and chuckle.

“So you all just decided to harass a teacher without any reason at all,” she said, louder than before, her voice full of controlled rage. Another round of silence during which she stood up from her chair and walked around the table to inspect the students more closely.

“Chen, you and Kyungsoo decided to scratch Mr Nahm’s car, is that correct.”

“Yea, kinda,” Chen stated, no point in lying, he knew someone had seen them.

“Jooheon, you Changkyun, Kihyun and Minhyuk smashed the windows of the car?” she asked, her voice boiling with suppressed anger.

“And stabbed the tires,” Jooheon added.

“The knife please,” the dean timed in, extending his open hand to signal the student to give him whatever weapon he illegally brought to school. And the blond-haired youngster handed it to him with an eye roll; a pocket knife with a blade that opened and closed by pressing a button.

“Lay, you decided to “run into Mr Nahm so he would fall down the stairs” correct?” Misses Kim asked rhetorically while placing the knife that the dean had handed to her on the table. Lay nodded, not looking as guilty as he probably should have.

“And Luhan, you spilt boiling hot water onto him didn’t you?” she continued, but this time wasn’t met with silence.

“No I didn’t,” Luhan chimed in, but that just unleashed the storm of rage bottled up inside of their principal: “Stop with all the lying Luhan! I am so sick of it! Do you really think I would believe your word over your teachers? Are you trying to have a payback for your terrible exam results? If yes, this is not working in any capacity! Stop with all the lying and deceiving and own up to your bullshit!”

Chen was watching Luhan’s expression while he was being screamed at, the big brown observant eyes constantly following her wildly gesturing hands, as if he was waiting for the first punch to be thrown, thus for not looking her into the eye, making her believe he was lying even more.

“At least look me in the eye when I am talking,” she said, making Luhan try his best to stop constantly watching her hands. It was only natural to him to watch someone’s hands when they were angry, too often had he experienced what usually followed an adult being angry. He rationally knew he wouldn’t get punched in the middle of a group in school, but his instincts couldn’t be controlled this easily. In south high, behaviour like this would have easily resulted in him being caught by a teacher, but here, where nobody was used to things like this, where nobody was trained to notice those patterns, nobody did.

“You are all in detention for every day of the following three weeks. Kyungsoo and Chen will have to repay the reparations of the car paint, Jooheon, Changkyun, Kihyun and Minhyuk the cost of the windows and tires. I will send you the calculation by tomorrow and I anticipate your payment till Friday, otherwise, we will have to drag this to higher authorities! If a single more incident occurs I will gladly get the police involved! You are all dismissed except you Luhan, for the lying about your actions I will have a talk with your parents and I want you to stay here when I call them,” Miss Kim said, making an angry hand motion to the rest of the boys to leave the room.

 

“He didn’t do it! Mr Nahm is lying,” Chanyeol said as soon as they had entered the second floor. “He is trying to play us! He knows we look out for some of us and therefore he gets them in trouble,” Kihyun hissed.

“No he is just a racist cunt against Chinese people,” Minhyuk replied, remembering he gave Luhan fewer points for the same exam before.

“Whatever this is, this cunt knows what he is doing,” Chen raged on.

Kyungsoo, on the other hand, kept quiet. He would love to rage on with the others, to be angry for unnecessary suffering caused to his friend, but his whole mind was occupied with his own. How much would this car reparation cost? Would it be a lot? Surely not, Mr Nahm wasn’t driving a particularly nice car right? But Kyungsoo just couldn’t keep his cool. How would he be able to afford it anyway? He had no savings, nothing he could have to offer and nothing he could sell to be able to pay. What on earth would he do if the bill was actually higher than expected? Kyungsoo had never actually had a panic attack in his life, but he felt like getting one when he noticed his breathing getting out of control. He had to physically contain himself to just give in to the need to hyperventilate, knowing that this would not help in any capacity. ‘Keep calm, it’s maybe just a few bucks, wait till you see,’ he told himself to calm down, knowing this would not help him as soon as the bill would arrive…

 

 

 

“What on bloody earth were you all thinking? What is this for? Why did you all ganged up against a teacher and thought you could get away with that?” Suho more or less screamed at them as soon as they had all sat down at the table, making them wish they had joined their former classmates to a table without judgement. “And if one of you is going to tell me it’s a south-high thing I am going to lose it,” Suho warned causing Chen to chuckle.

“Aren’t you losing it already?”

“Do you want to get in trouble Kim Jongdae?”

“Am I not already, MOM?” the other simply replied. He was not sitting next to Xiumin today, because apparently the other would rather sit opposite him and stare a hole into him.

“We didn’t fucking murder anyone, calm down,” Chanyeol tried arguing, but Suho was not having any of it.

“You made massive scratches into a teacher’s car!”

“I didn’t, Chen did,” Chanyeol replied.

“Are you mad?” Suho nearly screamed, the guys sitting at the table to their right turned their heads for a moment.

“Where is Luhan?” Sehun asked Tao quietly, just getting a shrug in response.

“He had to stay in the principal’s office, because Miss Kim accused him of lying and is calling his parents,” Lay informed the Maknae calmly.

“Accused?! More like caught him lying,” Suho ranted but the one of them currently having the least to worry about chimed in to shut Suho up.

“He said he didn’t do it, and he didn’t! Maybe Mr Nahm mistook him for someone else or he was just trying to get some revenge, but Luhan didn’t do it and you are being unfair to him,” Lay of all people shouted at his classmate. Chen literally didn’t remember ever seeing the otherwise so calm Chinese boy this angry before. Upset? Yes! Sad? Yes, but angry? He was staring his Hyung down with a passion rarely seen in his eyes, before he suddenly looked like his insecure self again, grabbing his bag pack and running out of the canteen, leaving a completely flustered Suho behind. What was that?

 

 

 

P.E. classes were not as fun today, as all of the south high kids were trying to avoid Suho at all cost, but specifically Lay made a huge effort to avoid any and all eye contact during class, sticking to Luhan at all times. Suho wasn’t really sure what to do or say, but for some reason, it hurt him to see Lay avoiding him so much, but today didn’t seem to be a good time to talk to him about it since everyone was still heated from their argument earlier. So Suho said nothing, even though he wanted to ask Luhan for the truth, wanted to know if he was actually innocent for once, but because it seemed to be a bad time to ask Suho didn’t.

 

 

 

However much Kai wanted to know about why exactly the south high kids had all collectively decided to come after a teacher, Kai was with nobody involved in a close enough relationship to ask about it, so he didn’t. But after about fifteen minutes of silently sitting next to Kyungsoo reading his book he couldn’t help but ask: “What is bothering you?” Kyungsoo had been staring at the same page for fifteen minutes without even bothering to pretend he was reading, no turning pages, not anything.

“Nothing,” he answered emotionless, but Kai immediately knew he had caught onto something.

“Yea, sure thing, do you need me to teach you how to flip a page?” Kyungsoo looked up from the book he clearly wasn’t reading to raise an eyebrow, but then just sighed loudly. “So what’s going on?” Kai asked referring to the whole situation or anything that there could be going on.

“I was an idiot and got myself in trouble,” the black haired Hyung answered bluntly.

“So what’s the big deal? Chen didn’t seem to be bothered!” he answered, hoping to finally get some kind of information out of always secretive Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo’s big brown eyes were staring at Kai, evaluating if and what he could tell, till finally, he spilt out: “We got caught vandalizing the car and we have to pay the reparation fee.”

“Well, not to be mean, but that’s what happens…,” the younger answered. His father would be so mad with him if he ever did something like that, it wouldn’t be pretty. Another loud sigh:

“You don’t understand…,” Soo mumbled getting cut off by Jongin: “Then explain it! You can’t expect us to understand if we are never told anything!”

“And you can’t expect us to tell you things if you always tell everybody,” he countered quickly.

“When have we done this?” Kai replied annoyed.

“Well… Chanyeol told Baekhyun some things about his parents, and now everybody knows right?” It might have just been a good guess, but the shorter was right, they did spill out secrets just like that.

“I promise I won’t tell,” Kai said but Kyungsoo just rolled his eyes: “SM-high promises are worth nothing.”

“Kyungsoo,” Jongin shouted out in annoyance. Another sigh from the older one, he averted his eyes before finally spilling out: “There is no way I can pay for that fee.”

“Why not use some of your savings? Or ask your parents for help,” Kai suggested but that just made Kyungsoo regret telling him even more.

“You don’t understand…,” he blurted out, getting a snarky: “Then fucking explain it to me,” in reply.

“I don’t have savings. And neither do my parents. We are living pay check to pay check just to get by,” Kyungsoo sighed. Someone like Kai would never understand the true meaning behind these words, would never understand how it was to not be able to afford school books or walk in shoes that were falling apart. He would never understand how it was to be sick but not able to afford medicine, or the daily walking to school that easily took up an hour and a half each way, cause there was no money for a bus fare. He would never understand the feeling of getting up at night to sneak out of the house to secretly search for food in strangers garbage, because it was the end of the month and there was no food left to feed a single person in a family of five; Or simply the feeling of not ever being able to afford lunch of just sitting there with an empty stomach and watching everybody eat while wishing to just steal some of it; Or the humiliation he felt when again and again Luhan had to offer him half of his plate and he had to take it, cause he was just too hungry to decline.

“Just save money on other things. Don’t buy new clothes for a while or something. There is always a way to save a bit,” Kai argued.

“Sure,” the other just mumbled. He simply didn’t understand. He really didn’t.

 

 

 

Lay basically skipped Chinese extracurricular activity saying he wasn’t feeling well and would go to the nurses, but instead there he was, sitting in small storage room that was luckily left open, another thing that wouldn’t happen in south high, with his pocket knife in his hand, contemplating whether or not to do it. He felt like a terrible person for going off on Suho, Suho of all people, the only person that seemed to always have his back and go out of his way to be nice to him, but he felt just as awful about not helping Luhan. He could have just said it was him, taking all the blame on his best friend’s behalf, but he didn’t. He just wasn’t spontaneous enough, wasn’t thinking fast enough. The whole idea of taking the blame just popped into his head after they had left the principal’s office. Why did he have to be such a slow person? Why couldn’t he ever think of something on the spot? And what on earth had ridden him to go off at Suho?

The only thing holding him back from slicing up his leg right now was the prospect of having to explain another cut to Kris, only after having to explain the ones from Saturday night to him yesterday. Why was he so incapable? If this would continue Kris would surely at some point bail on him and spill out the truth and he couldn’t risk that. But how could he hide scars from him? Where could he cut so Kris wouldn’t notice?

Just while he was weighing his options he heard the doorknob turn. As quickly as possible he snapped his knife back into his original form and pushed it deep into his bag. Having nowhere to hide in the small room he just sent a prayer to every god he could think of that this was a student, but after the first step into the room he knew it wasn’t. The sound of high heels on the floor freaked him out a little more than before. Not many teachers whore those shoes, but he knew who did.

“Lay?” a confused voice asked. He knew who this was without even having a look, the tone of the voice so similar to the one her son had. He was taking a deep breath before he looked up and answered: “Hello Misses Kim.”

“What exactly are you doing here?” she questioned looking down onto the on the floor sitting student.

“Skipping class,” Lay mumbled, stating the obvious.

“And why?” she asked confused by the blunt answer. Lay shrugged with his shoulders, looking at her shoes; his mom whore similar shoes to work, but less expensive ones. Obviously…

“Lay, I am talking to you,” she said with a demanding tone while also crouching down to be at eye-level with her student.

“Where you crying?” she asked lightly brushing a tear from his cheek Lay didn’t even know was there. “Do you want to talk about it? she asked softly. Lay violently shook his head, hoping she wouldn’t dig further. He was such a bad liar, it wasn’t even funny anymore. “That bad?” she questioned, another time Lay shook his head.

“I’m just being silly,” he said, luckily his voice didn’t break or anything like that.

“What about?” she asked again.

“I made someone mad with me,” Lay blurred out, hoping she would be satisfied with that answer.

“Luhan?” she asked, knowing the two Chinese boys were often seen together. Again Yixing just shook his head.

“Luhan can’t be mad with me for longer than an hour. He doesn’t have it in him. I could probably murder his family and he would forgive me in an hour,” Lay joked, relieved that Miss Kim smiled at that.

“What happened?” she asked, sitting down onto the dusty floor opposite her student, encouraging him to give her some more information.

“My friend was being mad with us because of… well, the whole getting called into the office and stuff… and he said something derogatory about Luhan and I ended up screaming at him,” Yixing said looking down at his folded hands. “But he was being unfair to my best friend and I just wanted him to stop, but all I ended up doing is make him hate me,” he added after a while.

“Suho isn’t mad at you, he probably knows he deserved that,” Miss Kim replied ruffling the student’s hair a little.

“He looked like he was mad,” Lay insisted before suddenly realizing something and looking up locking eyes with his principal. “How do you know I was talking about him?” he asked.

She just smiled knowingly: “First, he has talked about you quite a lot these days, second, you also thought he was mad with you last time you skipped class and third, what other student throws a tantrum if his friends get in trouble?” Even Yixing had to chuckle a bit at that. “Trust me, if he is being unfair, tell him, he can take it,” she said pinching his cheek a little.

“Why are you always so nice to me?” Lay asked before he could stop himself from doing so.

“What do you mean?” Miss Kim asked curiously.

“I skip Chinese and you are nice to me, I skip Math and English and no screaming; now I am skipping Chinese again and you are still not mad with me, I don’t understand.”

“Cause I know you, I know how you are. I can’t scream at you for crying, can I?” she asked with a slight ironic undertone in her voice. Now that Lay had already blurred that out, he felt like finishing what he had started: “So you give me the benefit of the doubt because there might be more to that story?”

“Yes, what would screaming at you when I found you here accomplish?” the principal questioned, but her student knew where he was going with that.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be a hypocrite then!” This came out harsher than he had wanted, immediately regretting what he had just said.

“What?” she questioned confused and maybe even shocked.

“You give me the benefit of the doubt, but not any of the other kids,” Lay said, scraping together every piece of courage he had, coming together in a miserable tiny bunch, but at this time it had to be enough because there was no turning back from here.

“What are you referring to?” she asked, not looking at Lay for once but looking to the ceiling as if she was trying to think of something.

“You didn’t give Luhan the benefit of the doubt, did you?”

“Well, I know him, he has been to my office on the very first day of school, he is quite a troublemaker…,” Miss Kim argued but was cut off by Lay who was using his last remaining piece of courage before he would crawl back together into his shell where he belonged.

“No you don’t know him, you know maybe an hour of his life and three to five pieces of information about him without context that you found in a student file somewhere! Just because he made a bad first impression doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve to be treated like everyone else. If I get the benefit of the doubt, so should he!” And with that being said Lay stood up.

“Sorry, I’ll go back to class,” he mumbled quietly, already back to his timid self, before running out of the storage room as fast as possible and sprinting through the hallways to find an empty restroom to hide in. He probably just made his principal hate him, but he wasn’t feeling bad about it, instead, he felt a smile creep onto his lips. If her hating him is what it took to help out Luhan in the long run, it was definitely worth it!

 

 

 

If everyone was being honest to themselves, detention was actually kind of fun. It was as if they were all back in south high, just that they were slightly fewer people because some kids really couldn’t get caught doing stupid stuff, and that second and first grade were in one class. Detention was actually more like a tutoring session; at least it felt like this with the always lovely Miss Chen from Chinese classes. She was by far one of everybody’s all-time favourite teachers, always considerate, always lovely and so unbelievably trustworthy. And there she was, handed over thirty students to punish for being awful to a fellow teacher and instead of letting them do extra work; she was standing at the blackboard explaining something in physics for some of the first graders, while the rest of the class was trying to finish their homework. She had promised everybody she would help them if they needed any help, but Chen was just glad he could do his homework in detention, because otherwise, he would have just wasted an hour daily on staring holes into the wall, but this was basically like the weeks he had spent with Suho in the library getting tutoring to finally pass a subject. This wasn’t actually that bad!

The time flew by faster than anticipated and they were exactly one and a half hours after usual school closure released into the freedom of having to come back tomorrow. Most of the students quickly gathered their things and smiled to Miss Chen before waving goodbye, whereas Luhan looked like he wanted to cry like that. Of course, everybody knew what was going on in his mind, but most of them could barely relate to the feeling he must be going through at this moment. However much of a deadbeat parent they had, most of them had no reason to be scared to return home.

Kyungsoo wanted to say something to his Hyung, wanted to cheer him up a little, but he knew nothing to say, so he kept being quiet. He could in some grotesque way understand Luhan’s life when his father let him starve again, but everything else in the Chinese boys live was unfamiliar to Kyungsoo. The first time he had met Luhan he had been jealous of the things he owned, the nice clothes and the fact that he was living in a house in a quiet neighbourhood, but quickly the truth behind this nice facade had seen the light and no one envied the insanely pretty boy with the delicate features anymore.

The first time Kyungsoo had become aware of Luhan’s situation had been in middle school. After half a year in the intensive language program, he had not made it into the general school program yet. His Korean had simply not been as good as he had needed it to be. This was actually not a big deal, as far as Kyungsoo was concerned most people spend two years in the intensive language program before being admitted into regular school activities, but he knew Luhan’s parents had apparently expected him to do much better. This was the first time he had seen the older boy starve. As he later found out his father was of the opinion food was a privilege that had to be earned, so failing tests and not accomplishing things his father deemed important resulted in his father denying him food for a while. The raven-haired Korean boy had watched Luhan starve from a somewhat normal figure to literally skin and bones regain most of it only to then again be deprived of food. He had seen Luhan at his worst and places beyond that.

One time Luhan had skipped school for some unknown reason, but obviously got caught. It had been some time in middle school, it wasn’t actually a big deal, it had been one of those project days, but this simple misstep had caused Luhan into a three-day long hospital stay. He had to get four surgeries on his upper arm to repair the damage, but luckily he had made it out without any long-term problems. Kyungsoo remembered three concussions Luhan has had during high school, all from “sports accidents” as he had claimed; he remembered various choking marks and black eyes, bruises and cuts, it was fair to say he had seen it all. But the Chinese boy had never complained. Never during the whole time had Luhan dared to say anything about his situation, he had always stood up straight and taken the treatment his own father had given him. But Kyungsoo knew how much he suffered, even though he suffered in silence. So often did he want to share food or shelter with the abused teen, but he simply didn’t have any to offer himself.

 

 

 

There was no point in trying to wait to come home, his father would wait for him, even when he decided to come home at night, so instead of doing that Luhan took the first bus home, preparing himself for what was about to come for the whole ride. Yixing actually looked a lot more concerned than himself, especially when he said goodbye to his friend before getting out of the bus. The younger was afraid of violence of all sorts and every time he saw Luhan after his father had punished him for something, he had this terrified look in his glossy eyes. He always seemed to want to protect Luhan, but he knew there was literally nothing he could do for his friend, and that was eating him alive.

Luhan hated himself for putting him through this, hated himself for making a fragile soul like Yixing’s break for him. So he never told him when something had happened. Nobody could deny the marks, but everything else Luhan kept hidden from his friend. Never told him about the starving or anything else, just to not make sure he didn’t worry about him. It was dumb for him, Yixing being one of the few that he probably actually could steal some food from if things got too hard, but Luhan would always choose his friends sanity over his own needs. Always!

 

Luhan opened the front door softly and closed it just as quietly. He placed his shoes on their place next to the cabinet and entered the living room. His father was sitting in front of the TV watching the news. It was strange for Luhan to see this, his father was never really a big fan of watching TV, but he could assume he was just sitting there to wait for his son to come home. Before greeting him Luhan took a deep breath. No matter how long he would prepare himself for what was about to come he never lost the feeling of fear that seethed up as soon as he saw his father. His palms were getting sweaty and his fingers trembled ever so slightly. This was a bad day, he could already tell. His father would want to make an example out of him, to make sure this time was the last time he would get a call from the school and that’s why Luhan was afraid.

“Dad,” he said, his voice breaking slightly but at least was the tremor not obvious.

“Son, you’re home…,” his father said while turning off the TV. Luhan knew that it would be bad. He would only be referred to as ‘son’ when he was about to get the beating of a lifetime. His father got up, to turn around and face him, his eyes scrutinizing him, eying him up and down.

“You have been getting in a lot of trouble recently,” he said while taking a few steps forward. His voice was icy and Luhan already took a slight small step backwards. “It seems like every time your wounds heal you get in trouble again,” he said calmly, stepping forward again. “Maybe you need some more lasting ones to remind you why you should behave instead of bringing shame over your family!” Luhan took another step back, feeling the wall right behind him. He was fooling himself to think that this would have any effect on the outcome of the situation.

“If you wouldn’t look so much like your mother I would probably break your nose, but I can’t do that soo…,” he whispered, a cold shiver ran down Luhan’s back. He knew about his parents' relationship, he knew how much his father wanted her back, but she was now a free woman, escaped out of the cage her past husband had put her in.

“Foot or hand?” he asked, Luhan, looking at him completely flustered. What did he want from him?

“Foot or Hand?” he repeated, giving his son a fake smile. That’s when he knew what was happening.

“Foot,” he answered with a breaking voice. He was frightened like he hadn’t been in a long time. This would be bad and he knew it. He closed his eyes, just for a second or two and he felt the first hit. It was brutal, his head crashed into the wall on the one side, his father’s knuckles drilled into his scalp on the other. Before he could even open his eyes, the second punch hit him. Not directly a punch, more of a kick with a knee into his side. He had raised his arms to shield his face and by doing so exposed his ribs that were now being targeted.

His eyes were tearing up because of all the pain he felt and his vision got blurry, right when he felt one of the most excruciating pains he had felt in a long while. He couldn’t help but let out a painful scream, almost immediately muffled by his father’s hand on his mouth.

“Stop screaming!” he screamed and as if to punish him for the cry he rammed his knee into his ribcage again, even more, brutal than before. Luhan could feel all of his blood draining from his face when he heard the disgusting cracking noise, right away feeling dizzy and shaky. He couldn’t handle this noise, he simply couldn’t. His knees were about to give up under him when he felt the hardest, roughest, most brutal kick yet. His father’s shoe pierced into his soft skin and another cracking noise. There was nothing the boy could do but let out a terrified scream before plummeting to the ground.

“I. told. You. Not. To. Scream,” his father said and with every word another kick hit his on the ground lying son, curled up into a ball, holding his foot.

“Stop crying you’re not a girl,” he said with disdain before kicking Luhan’s head a final time, before slowly walking away. Luhan heard the kitchen door open and could assume he had been left alone. He tried everything to calm himself down, to normalize his breathing or just stop his crying, but instead, his body just felt weaker than before, he was hyperventilating and wildly shaking. He could hear the coffee machine in the kitchen and he knew it was over for now, but even this couldn’t calm him this time. Every movement made sharp pain crawl up his spine, every breath felt like somebody piercing a knife into his lungs.

He didn’t know how much time had passed by, he had to assume an hour or two because that was usually the time span in between punishment and his father doing damage control. But after a long time lying on the ground crying and shaking, he felt somebody pulling him up by his upper arm.

“Don’t stand on that foot,” his father ordered when Luhan tried to put his battered right foot onto the ground.

“Why?” he asked breathless, his voice still shaking.

“It’s broken,” was the only answer he got.  “Don’t look,” his father added while gripping his son's chin to make him look against the ceiling instead of the ground.

“Ok,” he whimpered knowing he would probably just faint right away. He remembered the time he had broken an arm. Well, his dad had broken his arm. Luhan was just not good with things like this, but since he was never planning on becoming a doctor he felt no need to practice this skill by looking at gruesome pictures of accidents online. Instead, he had the google safety search on and was comfortable with the knowledge to not have to see images like this.

Even though he could have seen it coming Luhan got surprised when his father easily lifted him from his standing position bridal style to bring him to the car.

“Get in,” he ordered in a completely toneless voice as soon as Luhan was somewhat safely standing on his left leg. Obediently Luhan got inside and closed the door while his father walked back to the house to get something before coming back to the car and placing himself onto the driver’s seat.

“You will tell them a car crashed into you while you were riding a bike,” his father instructed while starting the car.

“But it’s just a foot injury, wouldn’t it be better…,” Luhan started but was cut off by his father stating:

“I heard at least one rib cracking.” Luhan went pale again if any paler was even possible. He had heard it too, but his smart brain had pushed that memory far far down into his mind to never surface again, but know he vividly remembered the cracking noise.

“How are your studies working out?” his father asked while driving down the main road.

“Biology and English are going really good,” Luhan answered, trying to distract himself from the pain still running through his body in waves.

“And the rest?” his father questioned.

“Sports is fine, Math is going ok, I think politics is ok also,” he said adding: “Physics and Korean are a bit rough, but I am working on it.” Just a noise of approval from his dad when they were rolling into the parking lot of a hospital Luhan had never been to. They never drove to the same hospital, mainly to not draw in the attention of suspicious eyes. His father carried him to the entrance, placing him onto a chair in the waiting room before going to the front desk of the A&E.

Luhan spent his time watching the news on mute on a super old television in the waiting room, mainly because he needed to distract himself from looking at his foot. From the corner of his eyes, he saw a nurse entering the nearly empty waiting room with a wheelchair.

“Mr Lu?” she asked loudly and Luhan turned his face to her.

“Me,” he said quietly. She helped him into the wheelchair before pushing him into a doctor’s office. The doctor, a somewhat small man with a round face and big eyes just had a glimpse before ordering the nurse to bring him straight to get an X-Ray taken. The guy working at the X-ray machine was really nice, helping him onto the table, asking a few questions and then first taking an X-ray of his foot then of his chest. Luhan was meanwhile doing his very best of not looking at his foot, he really didn’t want to faint like that.

The adjusting of the foot was by far the most painful thing Luhan had ever gone through. Apparently, he had broken two bones in his foot and one of them was displaced so to be able to heal properly the round-faced doctor, his name was Kim, had to push the bone back into his original place. Luhan had gripped onto the table while he was doing that, biting onto his lip till blood was dripping down his chin.

“I’m done, but we are having another X-Ray taken to see if everything is in place before giving you a cast,” the doctor said while using a tissue to wipe the blood off of Luhan’s chin.

Luckily for him, everything was now exactly where it was supposed to be and placing the cast was nowhere near as painful as the adjustment of his bone had been.

“Where do you go to school?” Doctor Kim was asking him while making the cast.

“SM-high,” he mumbled still looking anywhere but to his foot.

“Grade one?” he questioned interested.

“Grade two, I look younger,” Luhan replied, used to being estimated younger than his actual age.

“Oh, then you maybe know my son. Xiumin, round face and big eyes, probably a little shorter than you,” the doctor said smiling. Surprised Luhan turned his head; lucky for him the half-finished cast already hid his shattered foot.

“Yea, we are friends,” Luhan said smiling. He hadn’t met Xiumin’s father when he was at his house for the sleepover, Xiumin had said he had to work the night shift and in the morning he had been sleeping.

“So you are actually Luhan from Chinese class. I was wondering the whole time but I wasn’t sure whether or not Luhan is a common name in China,” Doctor Kim said while finishing the cast.

“Do you own any form of crutches at home?” the doctor asked while checking the finished cast for possible flaws.

“No, not that I know of,” the Chinese boy answered already feeling miserable about his initial choice. He totally forgot how much he would hate to not be able to walk for a few weeks.

“Well, that’s a shame. If you want to borrow some I will tell Xiumin to bring them to school tomorrow,” he said smiling.

“Thank you so much,” Luhan answered smiling.

“So about the broken ribs: There are a total of three ribs broken but I would not advise any form of pressure on them, so no cast corset, binding etcetera. Try avoiding positions in which they hurt, try sleeping on your back maybe. Otherwise, come back in three weeks so we can have another look at the foot and the ribs to find out how well they are healing. I estimate the healing process of the ribs shouldn’t be more than four weeks, the foot could be three weeks, but possibly longer, I can’t definitively tell,” Doctor Kim instructed him. Luhan just nodded, a bit confused by the fact that very suddenly the Doctors expression changed.

“Do you have a concussion?” he questioned more to himself than Luhan, quickly getting a tiny lamp from his desk and flashed it into Luhan’s wide open eyes. He could tell just by looking at the doctor’s unemotional face that this would probably be a yes to his question.

“Do I?” Luhan asked hesitantly.

“I assume so, a small concussion, but yes,” he got as an answer. “So try resting as much as possible, no school for a few days,” but that was when Luhan cut him off.

“I need to go to school if I skip I will fail my classes again,” he argued, panic rising in him. Midterms were only a month or so away and he needed every point he could get!

“I personally do not approve of that, but this is your life so if going to school the next two-three days is this vitally important please remember to take it slow and rest as much as possible,” the doctor advised him.

Luhan had heard it all before, this was by far not his first concussion so he had quite some experience. He nodded and smiled to reassure the doctor he knew what he was doing. He got one of those judgemental looks that only doctors could give, especially when patients did things they shouldn’t, before being finally brought back into the waiting room to go home with his father.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys,  
> hope you enjoyed this endlessly long chapter. Well... technically these are two chapters condensed into one, but I hope you don#t mind too much. It's more content this way ^-^  
> If you liked the chapter (or want to vent about Characters (like Luhan's dad), you can always leave a comment ^-^  
> See you soon  
> XOXO


	16. hunters and their prey

It was Tuesday morning and to be honest with himself Xiumin had never been this early at school. He was waiting at the entrance for Luhan to show up, he had the first period with him but also his father had very briefly informed him that Luhan has had an accident and broke his foot, so he needed to bring the crutches that for some unknown reason were in their house all the time to give them to Luhan. But he had also something else he wanted to do and he could probably accomplish that while he was waiting for his classmate to show up to give him the crutches.

“You’re early!” Chen commented hugging Xiumin from behind, pressing him against his chest.

“I know, won’t happen again,” he joked leaning back so he could kiss his boyfriend just for a minute, glad that apparently, Chen had absolutely nothing against that plan of his, their lips moving against each other while they could hear one or two students passing by. But both of them were too enraptured with the feeling of each other’s lips connecting like they were supposed to that neither of them even thought about worrying what other people were thinking about them, only separating when both of them were panting in a dire need of oxygen.

“Ew gross,” a familiar voice commented.

“Get a room,” another one added. Only because he felt obligated to Xiumin turned around but still engulfed in Chen’s hug to find out it had been Kyungsoo and Chanyeol talking from the get-go.

“Do I hear jealousy in your voices?” Chen asked smiling way too brightly.

“No, relationships are gross,” Kyungsoo stated with a dark glare, but Chen only replied with a laugh: “That’s what people say that are unhappy to be single!”

“Shut up, you know nothing,” he claimed and looked as grim as he could.

“Hey I have a request for you all,” Xiumin said, remembering his plan from earlier he forgot about because his mind was too bombarded with all the emotions kissing Chen made him feel.

“What about?” Chen asked sceptically.

“I want to get to know some things about you without being invasive or anything so this is anonymously, but could you write down on who out of the six of you former south high kids you personally think has it the best to wort!” Chen raised an eyebrow.

“Why do you want to know?” he asked sceptically.

“Cause I don’t want to dig around in your business but I want to know at least kinda what’s going on ok. I know you’re lives aren’t like ours but I still want to feel like I somewhat understand,” he answered a bit grumpy about the fact that out of all of them his boyfriend would be the one opposed to this.

“Well, sure,” Chanyeol answered, making Xiumin smile brightly before getting a few sheets of paper out of his backpack to hand each of them one.

„Just list them by numbers in order of how good you think their life is. One is best six is worst, you can all give them to me during lunch, I won’t read them before I got all of them, I promise,” he said happily.

“Should I give them to Lay? I sit with him in Korean,” Chanyeol offered, but Xiumin refused, saying he would rather do it himself. But there was also another reason he didn’t want them to know about.

“What are those for?” Chen questioned just now noticing the crutches leaning against the wall.

“Oh, apparently Luhan somehow broke his foot and he’s gonna borrow those till he is out of his cast,” the other explained. For a brief moment, Xiumin noticed shock and horror flashing on his friends’ faces, but it was such a short moment till they looked just like they did before, he might have just imagined it. But his suspicions grew when not even a single one of them cared to ask how Luhan even got injured… It was as if they already knew…

Luhan was quiet early, Yixing practically carrying him out of the bus. Xiumin took a brief notice of the other boy trying to help him walk who when he saw the others waved off and disappeared into the crowd of students.

“Here you go,” Xiumin said, walking towards the two Chinese boys with the black crutches in his hands. Luhan smiled genuinely, the relief over regaining some mobility clearly visible in his face.

“Thank you so much Xiumin,” he replied before leaning against the wall on the school entrance and adjusting the height of the crutches. Whoever had used them before he did was at least a few centimetres shorter than Luhan.

“How did this even happen? My father refused to give me any information other than that it’s broken cause, you know, the pledge of secrecy for doctors,” Xiumin asked curiously, walking next to Luhan trough the school entrance Yixing still on his other side.

“I got into a minor car crash while riding my bike,” he mumbled while stopping at his locker to get some books for Korean class.

“Oh, I got some small request for you to do,” Xiumin mentioned.

“What about?” Yixing asked, unsure if his Hyung had meant him or Luhan.

“I want to get a brief idea of what is going on in your lives without digging through your private life so could you just write down who out of all of you has it the easiest to worst on a piece of paper. It’s anonymous of course. I know your lives, in general, are completely different than ours, but I really want to understand you all better without being the nosy one you know?” he explained.

“Well, sure,” Yixing mumbled.

“Then, here you go,” the Korean smiled handing him an identical piece of paper he had already given Kyungsoo, Chen and Chanyeol.

“You can give me one too,” Luhan said reaching out one hand and by doing that dropping one of his crutches. “God damn it, I’m bad at this,” he shouted frustrated trying to somehow get the fallen walking aid back. Yixing was the quickest, grabbing it and handing it back to Luhan.

“I’ll just put in in your bag,” Xiumin said shoulder shrugging, nestling on the others school backpack. “Can you give one to Tao? I don’t really ever run across him,” the Korean asked hesitantly. It wasn’t true but he never really talked to him, so he thought it would be better if Luhan asked him than if he did it himself.

“Sure, just put two in there,” Luhan answered casually. Lay had to say goodbye to get to his Korean class in the other building while Xiumin walked with Luhan to their room, carrying his friend's schoolbag, because he was already struggling enough to get up the stairs like this.

Suho’s eyes widened when he noticed Luhan and Xiumin coming into class just before it started taking their seats in their row.

“What happened?” he immediately asked Luhan needlessly gesturing to his bandaged food.

“I got into a minor car crash and broke it,” Luhan sighed. “This school is terrible! Did you ever notice how many freaking stairs this school has?”

“I never considered it,” Suho answered. It seemed odd to him how casual Luhan was as if he was trying to change the topic quickly, but maybe he was just sick of talking about it. Probably everybody today was asking about it.

“What did Sehun say?” Baekhyun asked leaning over Suho so they could hear him better.

“I haven’t talked with him yet,” Luhan stated, confused over the shocked look on the Youngers face as soon as he had said that.

“But he is your boyfriend! You should have called him,” he argued.

“I was kinda tired after going to the hospital so I forgot,” the other defended himself. “Also there is no need to tell him over the phone if I could tell him today in person!”

“You should have texted him!” Suho agreed with his seat neighbour.

“I would have just made him worry about nothing,” the Chinese boy argued.

“Not nothing a broken foot,” Xiumin said chuckling.

“Oh, shut up Xiu,” Baekhyun sighed.

 

 

 

Lay was still avoiding Suho’s gaze when he walked into the biology room. He knew what was up with him, his mother has had a light-hearted talk about fairness and friendship with him over the dinner table, that had turned into a full-blown argument, causing his father to sigh more often than he usually did, saying he knew he had married a social justice warrior, but he never intended on raising one, but after all, both Suho and his mom left the dinner table with a few things to think about.

It was after dinner when he had been in his room studying when his mother had come in and told him about a conversation she has had with Lay that same day, and how much he felt like both Kims where not giving his best friend a fair shot. And Suho had to sadly agree that this was correct at times, but he also had to admit to himself, that it would probably take a while for him to change his behaviour. Too ingrained had those preconceived notions become into his mind that changing them would be a process.

“Sorry for yesterday,” Suho whispered to Yixing, occupying Kris’ usual place next to the Chinese boy since he figured he wouldn’t be mad for changing the seat one place further to the right. The younger just glared at the table, seemingly unfazed by Suho’s attempts of peace.

“Your mom snitched,” Lay said, the tone of his voice more abashed than anything.

“She is my mom,” Suho tried to defend but then quickly added: “She just doesn’t want us to fight over nothing. I just want you to know I am not mad with you and that I am sorry for always picking on Luhan. Ok?” the older asked, squeezing Lays shoulder just a little, hoping he would finally look up, but he didn’t.

“What can I do to make you believe me?” he asked calmly, waiting for a reply.

“Just stop blaming Luhan for every little thing he does that others get away with. You got him in trouble for swearing once and since then you always imagine the worst intentions behind everything. You don’t know him! You don’t know him like I do. So don’t do that,” Yixing said, his voice getting weaker and cracking more and more often as he went on his glossy brown eyes locking with Suho’s.

“Ok,” he whispered, hoping the other would see the sincerity in his eyes. The brown blond haired boy nodded weakly looking absent, but for some reason also unbelievably cute.

“Sorry,” he mumbled his eyes not locking with his classmates anymore but looking onto the blank table utterly ashamed.

“For what?” the other asked, putting one hand on Yixing’s knee, caressing it lightly. He didn’t get an answer for a long while, the teacher had already entered the room and Suho was sure he would never get an answer to his question when Lay quietly whispered: “I’m sorry, I am saying you should stop being mean to Luhan while I’m being awful to you.” Lay sounded sincere, what confused the other immensely. Why was he feeling the need to say sorry? Suho had already fully admitted that he brought that onto himself, this was his fault, so why was Lay the one feeling guilty? Suho sighed while shaking his head.

“I’ll say it again and again, till I get it into your thick skull, I am not mad with you and don’t say sorry for things that don’t need an apology!” And with that Suho placed his arm around Yixing, his hand on the other's waist, pulling him closer and then whispering into his ear.

“You can always talk to me you know right?” Yixing turned to Suho again, his eyes big and innocent like a baby lamb when he asked quietly: “What can I do to make that all up to you?”

First Suho felt like scolding the younger for again not getting the freaking point of this whole ordeal, but then he decided it was pointless and instead answered: “Just smile a bit more. You’re so cute when you smile.”

A shy smile crept its ways onto the young Chinese boys face, his cheeks blushing ever so slightly, his brown eyes shyly looking away from Suho, quickly pretending to follow the lesson again, but Suho could see how he was still caught up in thoughts. Lays cuteness did something for him though, made him feel warm and cosy, put a smile onto his lips and a spark into his eyes. There he was falling for a friend, a troubled classmate, which he originally just wanted to help a little.

 

 

 

Something was off, Luhan could clearly feel it during physics class, since the moment he had stepped through the door he knew something was off with Mister Nahm's behaviour, but he didn’t really know what so Luhan just credited his weird feeling about the teacher to the bullying he had to endure yesterday. But for some reason, the Chinese boy felt the teachers gaze on him more often than usual. Knowing about what he had done to another student this whole behaviour made him even jumpier. It made him so uneasy in fact that he when to the bathroom as an excuse to be able to text Sehun without the teacher knowing. His eyes were on Luhan during class so often he didn’t think there was an opportunity to text without getting caught within seconds.

And now he had the opportunity but didn’t know what to write. He felt stupid for being so uncomfortable around a teacher that he had to tell his boyfriend about it. Also, he was a man after all; shouldn’t he be capable of standing up for himself on his own? This was stupid; he should just go back to class. There was no need for him to ask Sehun to pick him up from class or something, specifically because it was not even lunch break after class, just the usual fifteen-minute break between classes; it being only second period anyway. This was stupid!

But for some reason, his gut feeling didn’t leave him, whatever rational explanation he found for his teacher's suspiciousness. He just felt so uneasy about today’s class. But he simply couldn’t find a good excuse to ask Sehun to come over after class to justify any of this. This was stupid; he should just go back to the class right? ‘Right there is nothing to worry about,’ Luhan told himself and made his way back to the classroom without texting anyone.

 

“Luhan, stay here for a minute would you?” Mr Nahm asked casually while nearly the whole class had already made their way outside, but the Chinese boy was simply not good enough with walking on crutches yet for him to try doing it in a crowd of people, so he had just waited for the others to stream out of the classroom before he did.

“Ok,” he mumbled the uneasy feeling in his gut telling him to run off immediately, but his rational side told him he was being silly, and also absolutely incapable of running, not with this foot and crutches!

“What happened to your leg?” Mr Nahm asked while closing the classroom door. It seemed a bit odd to Luhan, he still had to go outside, but the teacher probably just wanted the next students to not come in already.

“I broke my foot in a car accident yesterday,” is what Luhan answered hoping to sound as confident as he wanted to.

“Sure,” the teacher chuckled, something about him really was off… why was he laughing anyways? Luhan felt like asking about that but he didn’t, too afraid of getting into more problems. He really couldn’t have any more than he had right now!

“So it’s true, every time you get in trouble in school your parents beat the living shit out of you,” the teacher stated, looking up from his notes. Luhan’s eyes grew wide. How did he know that? Who told him? What was he supposed to do now?

“I was just a car accident,” he insisted but the smile on his teachers face just grew wider, but never reached the eyes.

“Sure little one,” he laughed dryly. A cold shower ran down his spine, what exactly was going on here. He was standing on his crutches before the teacher's desk, Mr Nahm only needed a few steps to stand right in front of his student. He was taller than Luhan, maybe Kris’ height, so he was towering over him with his weird grin on his face. Luhan was about to flee the situation by just walking out of the classroom but with a swift movement, his teacher had kicked one of his crutches away. With a weird ringing noise, it landed on the floor, making the Chinese boy look up to his teacher.

“You should be a bit more obedient little one,” he said chuckling while Luhan hunched down to get his walking aid from the ground. His chest was hurting badly probably the broken ribs were trying to tell him something, but he just wanted to get away from this conversation. That’s when he felt a hand on his hip, pulling him in another direction, nearly making him fall because of his injury.

“Leave me alone,” he hissed immediately when comprehended what was going on.

“If I get you in trouble, will you need a wheelchair?” Mr Nahm asked smirking, one of his big hands gripping Luhan’s behind. All blood had drained out of Luhan’s face, leaving him pale in shock. What was that? What the hell was going on here.

“But you wouldn’t want that, would you?” he laughed, so cold another shiver ran down Luhan’s back. He squirmed a bit when the teachers second hand also crept onto his perky butt and he squeaked loudly as soon as the others hand were roughly gripping his behind, fingers drilling into his flesh.

“You look really cute like this,” the teacher commented. Suddenly he let go of his student going back to his table, readjusting his papers, Luhan still standing there completely petrified from what just happened.

“If anyone finds out I will talk to the principal about your bad behaviour. Your parents will surely be unhappy with that,” he said with a voice cold as ice.

“See you in Fridays class little Luhan,” he said smiling his fake smile looking directly into the big doe-like eyes of his student. Suddenly Luhan’s limbs were able to control themselves again and he went as quickly as he could to the door, hoping his teacher wouldn’t suddenly change his mind, but he just stood there pretending to be captured by his own notes. The classes must be starting quite soon because even through the closed door Luhan could hear the students gathering in front of the room. He pushed the door open and stepped into the crowd of students waiting in front of the door that had never felt so much like a safe haven. Nobody could hurt him when he wasn’t alone, right?

“Oh my god, what happened to your leg?” someone asked, holding Luhan back with a hand on his shoulder. He was about to escape to his next classroom: Mathematics that he had together with Kris and Chanyeol. He shrieked a little by the sudden touch but quickly recognized who was talking.

“I broke my foot,” he answered quickly to Kai. He was standing next to Tao who was looking just the same way he did when he had told him the same earlier today when he had waited for him at his locker to give him Xiumin’s note and the instructions. Luhan didn’t think the younger already knew about his problems, but apparently, he had either figured it out on his own or someone had told him about it, cause he got those judging eyes as soon as he had told him this lie.

“What happened to your leg?” Sehun’s familiar voice asked while Luhan felt arms wrapping around his shoulders from behind, Sehun resting his head on the Chinese boy's shoulder, his lips brushing against his cheek. It felt comforting to Luhan in this situation. He had wished he had known the others had physics class right after him, he wouldn’t have felt so stupid for wanting Sehun to come and meet him here as soon as the class had finished. Just the thought of that made him shiver again.

“I got into a minor car crash and broke it,” the shorter one lied for the hundredth time today.

“When did it happen? You should have told me! I would have come to the hospital with you,” his boyfriend answered, the voiced tainted with concern.

“Yesterday evening, my dad drove me to the hospital. You really shouldn’t have been there I cried like a baby,” he admitted, taking deep breaths letting the smell of Sehun calm his body down. If was ridiculous how well that worked, but the smaller one was just glad it did; he had to calm down and get to class or he would be in a world of trouble, there was no skipping class in this school! Especially not for him!

“Are you ok?” Sehun questioned, being so close to him he probably noticed how jumpy the older was, or that his arms were trembling a little.

“Yea sure,” he lied, thankfully interrupted by the bell.

“Shit, we have to go,” Sehun said letting go of Luhan but giving him a warm smile before he entered the classroom.

“Hurry up, or you’ll be late for class,” he advised his boyfriend before entering the physics room.

 

Luhan wanted to follow his boyfriend's advice; he really wanted to why would he want to get in trouble for skipping class right after everything that had happened yesterday? But as soon as he had managed to walk up the stairs away from the basement physics rooms, still having to walk up another flight of stairs and two more hallways till he would reach his math classroom already late, he felt his eyes getting watery and his whole body captured by trembling. He felt his breathing getting faster and weaker, everything about this screamed panic to him. He couldn’t go to class like this; he wouldn’t make it to class like this. His trembling arms could barely support his body weight, let alone walking up the stairs like this, so instead of doing what he was supposed to, he limped into the next bathroom, sitting down onto the cold tiles of the floor trying to get his breathing into control.

But neither his breathing nor his trembling got any better when the minutes passed by. Suddenly he felt sick, crawling to the nearest rubbish bin and violently throwing up. He couldn’t even make it to one of the stalls; now that he was sitting he didn’t think his leg or his arms were able to support his weight, even though because of the two days of starvation last week he was still really light. When he felt the dizziness overcome his body, probably either due to the lack of oxygen or his body craving for the nutrients he had just spat out, he simply laid onto the floor, hoping the coldness of the tiles would reactivate his body functions.

His wheezing was so loud he knew what he needed at this moment, but his medication was one of the things he didn’t have anymore, his father always took it away for a week when he got in trouble. But right now he needed it more than ever. Rarely did he let his asthma become this bad before taking medicine. He never did it on purpose, it only got this bad when he was out of his inhaler again.

He didn’t hear the door open but suddenly there was another person kneeling next to him.

“Hey,” he screamed, his voice echoing from the empty bathroom walls, multiplying in Luhan’s head. Suddenly he felt another wave of sickness overcome him, so he quickly sat up and hunched over the bin again. His vision was completely black from a mixture of lack of oxygen and sitting up too quickly. He felt the strangers hand on his back and even though he really didn’t want to be touched by anyone right now he felt at ease. He wasn’t alone anymore.

He got a blurred look at the guy next to him; his eyes were already watery, but now that his body was just begging for oxygen he started to cough violently bringing even more tears into his eyes. He noticed the guy to his right with his right hand on his back was doing something on his phone. Maybe he was texting someone?

“Do you have asthma or something?” the boy asked, putting his phone away and focusing on the boy next to him ringing for air. A weak nod, Luhan felt incapable of speaking right now. He had closed his eyes thought he heard the other boy doing something then another question.

“Where do you keep your medication?” he asked. He had pulled Luhan’s bag over, now lying on his lap.

“I don’t have it with me,” he said quietly between coughs and wheezing.

“Do you have it at your locker?” the other guy asked calmly, a bit too calm.

“Left it at home,” the Chinese boy replied on the verge of blacking out.

“It’s ok, try to breathe, keep calm,” the other mumbled while being at his phone again, his other hand gently ruffling through Luhan’s hair. It felt like hours had passed by but it rationally couldn’t have been more than two or three minutes, when someone opened the bathroom door, two pairs of feet appeared into Luhan’s field of view one of them kneeling down in front of him.

“Here Hyung,” a somewhat familiar voice said. He knew this person but didn’t recognise him by voice only, feeling too weak to lift his head. He heard someone shaking something and felt the guy in front of him placing something in his hand. Even with his blurry vision, he could identify the object in a second, he himself used the same blue inhaler on occasions. With shaky hands he brought it to his lips and took a first pump, then a second and a third, waiting for the effects to kick in. And they did, almost immediately after his wheezing got lighter his coughing stopped completely.

“You should have texted me Hyung,” the same voice said, the other two people were talking to each other with quiet voices. Finally, Luhan felt normal enough to lift his head looking straight at one of the younger students Seungri. He knew him from south high, not like knew knew him but they were familiar with each other; had talked once or twice. He had actually borrowed Seungri's inhaler before, the first time they had met, on field-day at the beginning of the semester, right before the merge of SM and south high was announced.

The other two people didn’t seem familiar to him at all, probably third-grade students from SM high, they might be the ones Sungri hung out with recently. The other younger south-high students had made fun of him for hanging out with the older SM-students so often and called him their pet-boy, but right now Luhan was just glad he had made friends among them. It was obvious to the Chinese boy that the one who found him must have texted the other two. He was so unbelievably lucky.

“Let’s get you to the nurse ok?” the third boy that hadn’t spoken to Luhan yet said trying to help him up. Luhan gesticulated to his crutches so one of them could hand them to him, but Seungri and the more sturdy one of the SM boys just slung his arms under Luhan’s for support. It was honestly probably a better idea, to begin with, but especially with the boy, he didn’t know it was just a little weird to be this close to him. The third one of them had taken his things with them, leaving the bathroom to get the underweight boy with a broken foot and every bit of energy drained out of him to the nurse.

 

 

Another lesson, another round of humiliating jokes Tao didn’t understand. Again he was forced to sit at the table in front of the teachers, getting these weird stares he had gotten before. They scared him. They were supposed to do the exercises on a sheet the teacher had just passed around but Tao couldn’t read the question, so he was just learning by himself again, when he felt his teachers hand on his thigh, Tao was trying to press his thighs together as much as possible to prevent any further action. The teacher was, while his fingers were running up and down his student’s upper thigh, writing an English translation of the questions on the paper before whispering in his thick Korean accent: “You are still the worst student in class so you have to do the room cleaning.”

Tao's heart was pounding out of his chest while cold sweat was running down his temples. He didn’t know what to do, but he needed to do something. But the teacher was right when he had said last time that no one would believe him, him, the boy that barely spoke any Korean with terrible physics grades. Who would take his word over his teachers? Who could he tell to begin with other than the ones that he had already told? He couldn’t go to the principal, not only would she probably not believe him but how would she understand him? He simply didn’t have the words to articulate himself properly.

The bell rang and most students got up as soon as it did before the teacher even officially ended the lesson. But who could blame them, physics wasn’t really a beloved subject and Mr Nahm was really not a beloved teacher, right? He had handed the blackboard sponge back to Tao and like last time the student did what he was told.

He heard Kai ask the teacher something before he said something to Tao, which only prompted him to give a quick smile. He thought he had heard the word lunch and soon, so he probably said something to the matter of ‘See you at our lunch table in a few minutes,’ or something. Tao could only guess, but he knew that the teacher was aware of the fact that somebody would be waiting for him. Or at least he hoped to.

“I didn’t even know you had friends. How do you communicate with them? Do they know or do you just do sexual favours for them so they like you as their dumb friend they can use?” Mr Nahm asked while stepping behind Tao again, just like he had done last lesson, his hands gripping his hips, the fingertips piercing into his behind.

“No,” Tao said, ironically it was the answer to all of the teachers’ questions at once.

“Then why do they even care?” he asked while his left hand let go of Taos behind and ran up his thigh.

“They are friends of my friends,” Tao said while gathering all courage he had trying to show the teacher he was not the weak dumb kid he thought he was.

“You have friends?” the teacher chuckled.

“The other Chinese boys,” Tao said, making sure to say the word Chinese loudly and clearly. He wanted the teacher to know that they were people in this school he could tell.

“You mean Luhan?” he asked, his left hand know only centimetres away from Tao's crotch. “Isn’t he the one that gets beaten when he gets in trouble at school?”

Tao didn’t feel like answering, too surprised a teacher actually knew what was going on and chose not to do anything to help, but what was he expecting from a teacher like this? “

It’s him right?” Mr Nahm answered himself then adding, in the coldest voice he had ever spoken to Tao: “Tell him and I will make sure he will spend weeks in a hospital, understand?”

The shock was written onto Tao's face, was causing a shiver to run down his spine and a trembling into his whole body. Mr Nahm would hurt the only people Tao had in this school. If he told, Luhan would suffer. He had done it yesterday, maybe just to make sure he could and know he was using his newly found power as blackmail. As a receipt, he would get away with preying upon a student like this.

Before he could tell what was going on he felt his teacher’s hand creep into the hem of his trousers, his hand exploring the naked skin underneath. Tao whimpered a bit when the hands crept further and further down his butt.

“Chinese boys are so cute,” the teacher mumbled while his hand found his way to the place he intended it.

“Crying won’t help you out one bit, so stop it,” Mr Nahm said mercilessly, his opposite hand now unbuttoning his student's trousers, letting them fall to his knees.

“You are bigger than most Chinese boys,” he commented as if that was a normal conversation to have when his second hand was pushing his boxers down.

“Jihu? Are you still here?” A voice from outside the classroom called accompanied by a knock on the door. His teacher immediately let go of his student, removing his hands from him and taking a step away.

“I’ll be out in a minute,” he shouted loudly so he’d be heard from the outside. At least that’s what Tao think he had said.

“Take your things and leave, you’re dismissed,” he said casually, Tao pulling up his trousers with shaking hands, his breathing still twice as fast as usual. He had trouble buttoning up his trousers with his shaky hands, his eyes still flying around the room to his teacher who was packing away his stuff.

“You might be done for today but I will see you in the next class except you chose yourself over your friend,” Mr Nahm stated with cold eyes. As quickly as he could the Chinese boy packed away his things grabbing his bag and wanting to sprint out of the classroom, but a firm hand around his shoulder prevented him from doing so.

“No word to nobody or I will make you cute little friend suffer,” his teacher whispered into his ear, stressing every single word. “And calm down, you’re too jumpy,” he added coldly before letting go of the younger and opening the door.

Tao quickly made his way outside past the short woman he thought was an English teacher who was talking to Mr Nahm. He got lucky today but that didn’t mean anything, did it? Just for a brief moment, he went to the bathroom to splash some water into his face and calm himself down. He got lucky today, he reminded himself again and again, till he felt the trembling lessen. But now it wasn’t only him, now he had to protect the only ones he had in this school, he couldn’t let his teacher hurt his friends another time. He had to protect Luhan!

 

 

 

“Where is Tao?” Luhan asked as soon as Sehun and Kai had put their bags down next to him and placed their food plates onto the table. The others were still in the food line.

“Cleaning up the room,” Jongin answered placing his tray next to Sehuns.

“Where is your food?” Sehun replied eying the empty table Luhan was holding free for his friends.

“Can’t carry anything,” Luhan replied nudging his crutches. “Can you go get me some?” he added making his cutest most innocent aegyo face while also blinking with his eyes, already huge from looking up to still standing Sehun. Kai wasn’t sure if he knew how good this would work or if he wasn’t aware of the effects his cuteness had on other human beings, but the other was sure with moves like this Luhan could make the rainbow-haired boy do basically anything. And just as foreseen Sehun blushed visibly and stuttered: “Sure…” Luhan handed him his wallet with one of those way too bright smiles while flustered Sehun walked back to the food line to get some for his boyfriend.

“You could’ve just asked like a normal human being you know, Sehun would do it anyways…,” Kai said while shaking his head.

“It’s way more fun this way,” Luhan giggled, looking so much less tense than he had when they had met in front of the physics room, his whole demeanour seemed different, at least to Kai, but it kind of felt a tiny bit ingenuine, but why it did he couldn’t pinpoint. Possibly just because he had just one and a half hours ago seemed like a totally different person. What subject did he have to cheer him up this much, because Kai would definitely join it instantaneously?

“Why did you skip math? Kris just told Suho about this in lunch-line and he will murder you in about twenty seconds,” Chanyeol said placing his food tray down and gesturing to their classmate coming over. So that was the secret to Luhan sudden mood change… but it wouldn’t be very long lasting considering Suho looked like he was out for blood.

“I have been told you skipped Math,” Suho said wasting no time for any form of greeting. He was fuming Kai could see it in his body language. Luhan looked up, looking completely innocent, but still, Kai caught this weird vibe from him today as if he was just a very good actor playing a role, too good to be caught, but not good enough to fool everyone.

“I wasn’t feeling well so I went to the nurse,” Luhan replied casually, however, neither Suho nor Kai were convinced of that, but only the older one dared to question their Hyung.

“So I could ask the nurse about it and she would tell me you have been there?” he asked scepticism in his voice.

“Obviously,” Luhan replied. Suho raised an eyebrow and Jongin was more than sure that Suho would go there and ask right after school.

Sehun had just come back with a tray of food for his boyfriend, taking the seat next to the smaller boy and eying Suho as if he knew he had been questioning his boyfriends’ credibility again.

“He skipped class,” the older said averting his piercing gaze to Sehun. “And don’t you dare tell me it’s not a big deal,” he stressed.

“I said I was feeling unwell and went to the nurse,” Luhan repeated angrily.

“You were sick?” Sehun asked, immediately feeling Luhan’s forehead to find out if he was having a fever or anything.

“That’s why when a doctor tells you to stay at home you should fucking stay at home,” Xiumin said who had just arrived at the table, putting the food down and letting his bag plumed to the ground. Kai saw the Chinese boy roll his eyes, but Suho was faster to ask: “Why so?”

“Nothing,” Luhan stressed, but Xiumin was not having any of it.

“He got a concussion and was ordered to stay home for a few days.”

“I got a slight concussion, I am fine and my grades cannot afford me staying away from school for that long,” Luhan immediately replied trying to defend himself and calm down shocked and worried Sehun.

“Just do what the freaking doctor says, Jesus, what is so hard about following instructions?” Xiumin replied thoroughly annoyed.

The only good thing that came out of this reveal was Suho looking a lot less judgemental and a bit more satisfied with Luhan’s initial answer of why he hadn’t been in class, though Kai believed he would still be asking the nurse about it.

 

“Oh, hey, are you feeling better?” one of the older students, Daesung, asked while he was passing their table.

“Oh, hey, yea, I’m feeling ok again,” Luhan answered smiling; looking up to the other as if he barely recognized him.

“Well, good. To be honest you scared the living shit out of me earlier! Good to know you are feeling better,” he answered, placing one of his big hands on Luhan’s slightly bony shoulder. “But on a serious note, stop forgetting your medicine at home! You got seriously lucky today, be more responsible next time,” he added.

“Of course,” Luhan replied with this smile that was honest but seemed a bit wrong like something was bothering him Kai noticed.

“Hey Daesung, what are you and Luhan talking about?” Suho asked irritated.

“Oh, hey Suho, I was just asking if he was doing better,” he answered casually, adding after seeing the others confused face: “I found him earlier nearly suffocating to death in the bathroom. I was so lucky Jiyong knew somebody who also has asthma.” Kai was not the only one shocked by what exactly was going on, he could clearly see Sehuns eyes growing wide and Suho opening and closing his mouth once or twice before replying: “Yea, really lucky it worked out that way.”

The moment Daesung had left the table to be out of hearing range was when Suho spoke up again: “What the hell happened Luhan?” There was no anger in his voice, just confusion. He clearly had changed his opinion about the older's absent from class earlier, but was now instead worried, making Luhan more uncomfortable than before. He was good at dealing with angry people, worried people not so much…

“I guess I got an asthma attack, nothing too bad, I kinda… forgot my spray at home so it was worse than it should have been, no need to worry though, Daesung was just exaggerating,” Luhan rambled clearly trying to downplay whatever had happened a few hours ago, probably to ease Sehuns nerves, but if that was the point of all of this, he was failing.

“How could you forget your medicine?” Sehun questioned, his voice higher pitched than usual, as if he was really trying to contain his panic but failing miserably. Suho chimed in and Luhan looked somewhere between annoyed and uncomfortable form the unwanted attention, trying his best to make light of the situation.

 

“Why are you all so casual about this?” Kai asked Kyungsoo sitting to his left, picking at Luhan’s plate like he always did. The younger was actually wondering what Sehun thought about this odd ritual Luhan and Kyungsoo seemed to have, did he mind at all that Luhan seemed to be this weirdly close to Kyungsoo or did he not care about the nearly daily food sharing they were doing?

“It’s normal, happened all the time in south high,” the black haired boy answered casually. However, it seemed weird to Kai how incredibly unfazed not only Kyungsoo but also Chen and Chanyeol seemed to be about this situation.

“Have you already figured out what to do about the car thing?” Jongin asked, trying to keep the conversation going and make sure Kyungsoo didn’t shut it down like this as he always did. It seemed like the younger could visibly see the mood darken as soon as he had said that.

“300 dollars, so 150 each,” he replied, sounding hoarse and emotionless.

“That’s not that bad, I told you it wouldn’t be too bad, you’ll be able to save up that much in no time,” Kai replied but Kyungsoos expression seemed to not change at all, just glaring at his and Luhan’s shared food. Not knowing what to say Jongin kept his quiet for a while, observing Kyungsoo and his bad mood, questioning what exactly was going on with him.

 

Tao came significantly later than usual, maybe fifteen or twenty minutes after lunch break had started he came over, looking caught up in his own thoughts when he placed his tray on the table at the only empty seat left, between Kris and Chanyeol. He always sat next to Kris since the places next to Luhan were usually occupied by Sehun and Kyungsoo. He quickly greeted his Hyung, hoping he sounded as normal as he usually did, but he could tell Kris knew something was up the minute he laid an eye on him.

“怎么了?”(What’s up?) he asked a frown in the space between his eyebrows. Why was he so fucking quick to figure this out? Did he have an extra sense that went off as soon as someone didn’t want to talk about something? Tao was sure he had seen it with Lay and Luhan also; Kris just had this weird radar for secrets. He probably didn’t know how close he was to figuring out Luhan’s, which didn’t ease Tao's nerves.

“没事,”(Nothing) he answered, but one look into his Hyungs face and he knew, that wasn’t going to cut it.

“停止说谎;”(Stop lying) the blonde replied annoyed.

“我没有说谎,” (I’m not lying) he answered unconvincingly; he already knew Kris was aware that he had found a weak spot and wasn’t going to let go anytime soon.

“对啊，你肯定不说谎，说怎么了,”(Yea, sure, so what’s going on)

“没有什么”(Nothing).

“我问你不会撒谎，对不对?” (I told you to stop lying already didn’t I) Tao sighed loudly. Kris was definitely not one of the easy ones to fool. Sehun, Kai, Baekhyun were easy, but Kris and Suho, in particular, were just these kinds of people that could tell a lie when they saw one. He hated those people!

“What was your last subject?” Kris asked Kai directly. He wasn’t going to put up with Tao's secrecy, so he was investigating on his own.

“Physics,” the younger answered while pretending to throw up.

“Why does everybody hate physics so much?” Kris questioned, originally this was supposed to be a question he wanted to ask himself, but now that he had said it out loud anyway, he might as well just ask it to the others also.

“Cause everybody hates Mr Nahm,” Luhan mumbled loud enough for everybody to hear.

“Why?” Kris immediately asked. He didn’t know the man, never had he have him in a single class, but he was curious about the reasoning behind this.

“He tends to be unfair to students with bad grades,” Lay answered quietly, looking to the table. Kris nodded, trying to take his information in and adding it to the everlasting file of things he knew about the south high kids. Lay, Luhan and Tao were all not great in physics right? Was that a coincident or could it be that this teacher had racist tendencies? Just for a brief moment, this thought crossed Kris’ mind, but as soon as it did he pushed it back into the back of his head, thinking he was just being ridiculous, there couldn’t possibly be a teacher like this in this school right?

 

 

 

Xiumin wasn’t exactly sure how he made it through health class and extracurricular without giving in to his curiosity, but the first time he had a glimpse at the six neatly folded up identical papers he had handed out to his friends earlier was when he had returned home. He had thrown his school bag onto the bed after getting out the paper, giving in to his curiosity. Not only would he probably be a lot wiser after finally reading them, but he knew there was more to know about the paper than the others knew.

Xiumin had made his own predictions, specifically during lunchtime today when he had watched Chen taking a nap with his head on the table. He had speculated about who he thought would come out dead last. Chanyeol would be up there for sure, with a family like this, who needs enemies? He was contemplating about the others. He knew little about Chen's parents other than that they didn’t care and were obviously poor, but would that make him one of the contenders in the battle of who had it worse?

As far as he knew Lay didn’t seem to have it that bad, his family seemed normal; at least there was nothing he knew about other than that. He couldn’t really say anything about Kyungsoo either, to be honest to himself he knew very little about the owl-eyed younger, but he knew he had a somewhat stable family. He would probably be one of the luckier ones, he and Tao. All he knew about the quiet Chinese guy was that he seemed to be decently rich, everything seemed normal, at least to Xiumin.

And then there was Luhan. Not only was Xiumin sure there was something off with him, but he still remembered how Suho had told them Luhan was afraid of his parents. So he was most likely missing his mom and being screamed at by his dad, a situation Xiumin wasn’t familiar with in any capacity, but he didn’t seem to be poor so would his family situation be enough for the others to consider him unlucky? Or would him not being poor make him out to be one of the better off ones like Tao and Kyungsoo?

There was not really a system Xiumin had to compare the answers with, he just thought about a person and then searched his name on each and every sheet. The first thing that hit him as odd was the number six, the one with the worst overall life situation, on every paper than one. Luhan

“Everyone but one said Luhan has it worst,” Xiumin mumbled to himself comparing every single paper again, but he hadn’t mistaken. Not only was Chanyeol not the last one on everyone’s list like he had expected, but he wasn’t even close.

“Is there really so much I am missing?” Xiumin asked himself as he searched for one of the names he had been curious about the most on the lists. His eyes growing wider and wider with every little thing he learned about his boyfriend.

“How is there so much I don’t know?” the blond-brown haired one asked himself angrily pulling at his hair. He really did know nothing about his friends, but how was this even possible? How was it possible to be so wrong about his own friends’ life?

Now Xiumin was a little scared to do what he had planned to do all along. His mom had once told him that ranking thing in order of worst to best usually told one more about the person and their preferences than it did about the actual product, so Xiumin had figured if he knew who had answered what he would be able to know some more about them, about their priorities in life, so he had sneakily, without anybody knowing marked every little sheet of paper with an invisible marker to be able to tell who had answered what, which is why he had asked Luhan and not Lay to hand the sheet to Tao, because he was certain he could identify Luhan’s handwriting. So in hopes, this knowledge could bring him any more clarity about his friends than the sheets itself did he read the names with the lamp on his invisible marker and then carefully put a name on every one of the papers.

 

 

 

(Chanyeol’s answers)

  1. Tao
  2. Lay
  3. Chanyeol
  4. Kyungsoo
  5. Chen
  6. Luhan



(Chen's answers)

  1. Tao
  2. Chanyeol
  3. Lay
  4. Kyungsoo
  5. Chen
  6. Luhan



(Luhan’s answers)

  1. Chanyeol
  2. Yixing
  3. Tao
  4. Soo
  5. Luhan
  6. Chen



(Tao’s answers)

  1. Park Chanyeol
  2. Huang Zitao
  3. Do Kyungsoo
  4. Kim Jongdae
  5. Zhang Yixing
  6. Lu Han



(Kyungsoo’s answers)

  1. Chanyeol
  2. Lay
  3. Kyungsoo
  4. Chen
  5. Tao
  6. Luhan



(Lay’s answers)

  1. Yixing
  2. Chanyeol
  3. Tao
  4. Kyungsoo
  5. Chen
  6. Luhan



 

 

“The only person that didn’t answer Luhan has it worst was Luhan!” This was by far the most chilling revelation his own curiosity had brought upon him. Not only was he shocked, but this said so much about the skinny Chinese boys’ outlook on the world. Even though even he had placed himself as a solid second to last, so even he couldn’t be in denial about what everybody else seemed to think about him. But what was it?

Lay placing himself as the one who has it best made Xiumin chuckle a little, sure, the shy maybe slightly depressed one was the one saying he is okay. Maybe he actually was, but maybe he was just one of the kids that didn’t seem to accept their own problems as valid. The ones that always downplayed whatever was going on and rather drown in their own tears than let anyone else see them cry.

“So, all the Chinese kids think Tao has it worse than Chanyeol, but Chen and Chanyeol put him as having it the best,” Xiumin mumbled to himself while evaluating his sheets. What did this tell him about the others, which most likely knew about Chanyeols parents and what his mom did to him?

“Chen and Chanyeol don’t know Tao, that’s what it is,” Xiumin wondered. “But what does Kyungsoo know about Tao that even Luhan and Lay don’t?” What did Kyungsoo know about the younger to make him have such a different opinion about him than everyone else?

“And how did Chen make it to second to last? It can’t just be that he is poor right?” Xiumin questioned himself while skimming through the papers again. Kyungsoo doesn’t do great either…,” he mumbled, now more determined than ever to get to the bottom of this, overthinking every little thing he knew about his friends, remembering every conversation he has had with Luhan, every little thing that had struck him as odd but didn’t know what to think of it. There had to be something right? There had to….

Suddenly his eyes grew wide and a shiver ran down his whole body, giving him goosebumps even though it was nowhere near cold in this room. Day one when Luhan got in trouble with Suho for some dumb stuff, the original reason they didn’t get along that well, and day two Luhan had come to school with a black eye. When Luhan had gotten in trouble with the police, didn’t he have those weird bruise looking things on his neck? And now he had gotten in trouble again and the next day, he had a broken foot and a concussion…

Suddenly all the puzzle pieces seemed to fall in its place, now that he knew how the picture was supposed to look like, piecing it together was easy. The weird things on his neck: Maybe choking marks? The reason nobody from south high seemed to be surprised to see Luhan with a broken foot, not even Chen who he couldn’t have told in advance because he had no cell phone. Suho's words of how Luhan seemed to be scared of his parents were echoing in Xiumin’s head; the weird looks some of the south high kids had exchanged when they had seen Luhan’s bruised neck. Lays outburst when Suho didn’t want to believe Luhan didn’t get himself in trouble; the somewhat weird excuses Luhan had given, everything suddenly fit together. Fit together so perfectly Xiumin felt like an idiot for not realizing it earlier.

 

 

 

Yixing helped Luhan out of the bus before getting back in and waving him goodbye. Luhan could tell he was still feeling guilty for not sticking up for him yesterday, but there was nothing Luhan could do or say to change that. Lay knew it wasn’t his fault the older had gotten into trouble, but he just was the kind of person to blame himself for things he didn’t even do. It hurt the Chinese boy to see his friend do that to himself, but he knew there was nothing he could do to help him, Yixing had to come to that conclusion by himself.

Luckily for him, the bus stop wasn’t that far away from his home, walking on crutches really exhausted him more than he could have ever imagined. It was already past seven, detention had made him later than usual, but at least had he finished all of his homework already, so he could spend his evening watching TV, browsing the internet and maybe texting with Sehun a little.

His father came to the front door as soon as Luhan had come in. This wasn’t particularly unusual, but he really didn’t know what his father wanted from him. “One of your friends is over, he wanted to talk to you about a school project or something, I sent him upstairs,” his father said before walking back to the living room, leaving a confused Luhan behind. Who could that be? His father knew Yixing, the only person that really ever came over to visit so it struck him as odd that he had referred to the person as “a friend”, but Luhan quickly remembered it couldn’t be Lay anyways, he had just been in the bus with him. So who was here to visit? Jackson? Mark? Tao?

Walking upstairs with his crutches and his bag was more a workout than a simple task, so he was more than happy to finally open his bedroom door and be able to fall into his bed. But as soon as he entered his room he was greeted with big eyes, inspecting him as they had never done before. A look on the others faces he couldn’t clearly identify, one he definitely hadn’t seen before.

“What are you doing here Xiumin?” Luhan asked, carefully sitting down onto his bed, a meter away from his friend sitting on his desk chair staring at him. No answer. It was kind of creepy to the younger of the two, only knowing Xiumin as his bubbly affectionate self, very similar to the Chinese boy himself.

“How did you find my room?” he asked, just to be sure his friend didn’t just lose his voice or was possessed by aliens or something.

“Your father showed me,” Xiumin answered absolutely every emotion drained out of him.

“He seems nice,” he added.

“He is quite nice…,” Luhan began but was cut off by Xiumin, now a lot of different emotions flashed on his face:

“Cut the crap!”

“What?” Luhan replied, completely flustered. What was going on? What on earth happened to cuddly and happy Xiumin and how could he get him back.

“I know,” the older simply said, his gaze piercing through Luhan.

“Know what?” he carefully asked, even though he had a good idea what there was to know about him.

“About your leg,” he said, his voice so controlled it literally scared Luhan. “The allergic reaction,” he added, staring down the younger one. “And the black eye you had on day two.”

So many things were crossing Luhan’s mind, he didn’t know what to say if there was anything to say to make Xiumin believe his lies, but judging by the look he was giving Luhan right know there was nothing he could do. He opened his mouth once or twice without any sound escaping his lips, the panic had taken away his capability of constructing a sentence. Finally, after a few fruitless tries, actual words came over Luhan’s lips, even though it was more of a whisper than normal speaking, his vocal cords had still not recovered from the shock.

“Please don’t tell anybody. Please, I’ll do anything,” he whispered while goose bumps ran down his body.

“Why?” Xiumin asked emotionless, but with a hint of confusion in his eyes.

“Please, please don’t,” the younger of the two tried to persuade but was cut off by Xiumin saying: “You can’t continue living like this! You have to get out of here!”

“No, No, No!!! I can’t! Please just forget about all of this,” Luhan chimed in, his hands already trembling. He didn’t understand, Xiumin wouldn’t understand, he would talk and ruin everything!

“Why can’t you leave?” the smaller boy asked, clearly not understanding the gravitas this would have in Luhan’s life.

“Please, please, don’t tell anyone,” Luhan whimpered, the first tear made it into his eyes, silently rolling down his cheek. This week was too much for him, with everything that had happened already and it was just Tuesday.

Xiumin stood up from his chair and for a brief moment, Luhan was afraid he would just run away, knowing the younger had no opportunity to follow him, but he didn’t. Instead, he sat down next to the Chinese boy, his fingers lightly brushing away the tear on Luhan’s face, his big eyes looking deep into the others, trying to find reason in there.

“Explain,” he ordered the younger, his voice softer than before, as soft as usual casual Xiumin always was.

It took Luhan two or three times to find the right words to say and then make them come out of his mouth, but eventually, his lips didn’t move toneless anymore.

“If my father loses his parental right, I’ll go to an orphanage,” he said hoarsely.

“But your mum,” Xiumin argued but was interrupted by Luhan’s vigorous head shaking: “She lost all her parental rights in court when I was younger. I have no grandparents anymore and I am not a Korean citizen so I can’t stay here. If my father loses his rights I will be sent back to Beijing into an orphanage till I turn eighteen. Please don’t do that to me. Please.” His voice faded away at the end, while more tears were gathering in his eyes.

“I will turn eighteen in less than a year,” Luhan whimpered while trying to wipe away the tears that were forming in his eyes.

Xiumin was quiet for a concerning long amount of time, just staring at his friend, the one that had lied to him for weeks, but how would he himself react if he was in a similar position? Maybe he would do the same…

“Promise me,” the round-faced Korean began, waiting for Luhan to lift his head and face him. “Promise me, that the day you turn eighteen you will pack all your stuff and move out of here!” Xiumin emphasized every single word in his sentence, staring into his friends’ eyes to find out if he was speaking the truth.

“You will move out of here, you can live at my house, we have empty rooms,” he said with all honesty. There was no way his parents would mind and there was probably no way any of his south high friends could afford Luhan living with them.

He nodded shyly, still afraid the older would spill his secrets, but more and more convinced he wouldn’t.

“Pinkie promise?” Xiumin asked waiting for the younger to intertwine their little fingers.

“I won’t tell and you will move out of here the second the law allows you to,” he repeated, the other just nodding.

“And you will include me in the secret talks, texts, stares, whatever you guys are always having. I don’t ask for you to spill anybody else’s secrets, but you have to include me into yours from now on!” Luhan nodded his head again, his big brown eyes looking directly into Xiumin’s, filled with nothing but honesty, a look that the Korean had barely ever seen on his face, but that really fit well to his beautiful features.

“Thank you Baozi,” Luhan whispered.

“You’re welcome.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys,   
> I know it took a while, but I was drowning in University work and then got sick :(  
> But hey, at least you are getting this absolutely way too long chapter.  
> I hoped you liked it ^-^ Leave a comment if you did ^-^  
> See you all hopefully soon  
> XOXO


	17. used and abused

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys and girls, author-chan here, just a quick side note: This chapter is a little too graphic… I debated whether or not to upload it but thought I still should. THIS IS A WARNING, if you do not want to read the triggering/graphic parts, skip as soon as you see this XXXXXXX to ****** you’re NOT missing out on any relevant parts of the story, you can probably just guess what happened anyway. Also, ctrg+F is your friend! XOXO  
> (PS: there are two skipping lines in total, the part in between the first **** and the second XXXX is important to the story!)

 

150 dollars, he had to find a way to get this much money until the end of the week. Well, he and Kyungsoo both had to find a way to come up with this money. Chen knew there were basically no options for him other than stealing. What was he supposed to do? He didn’t have the money, cause if he had this much money, he would have bought some stuff for himself already. Clothes, new shoes, a blanket, food… There were so many things he couldn’t afford already and this bill just added insult to injury. He had never stolen cash before; he barely ever actually stole anything. He would be the one to climb over some fences at night to steal the food supermarkets regularly threw away, knowing about ninety per cent of it was still good to eat. He was the one to look into dumpsters for old clothing or shoes that could fit.

He had to admit to himself he couldn’t have made it without the other south-high kids' help. Jackson had handed him all his old textbooks, knowing there was no way he could afford a single one of them. Bambam’s mother worked at a hotel so he would occasionally give Chen toiletries or other stuff that was leftover or nobody would notice missing. The small camping cooker he had gotten from Seungri, a boy he mostly knew for borrowing his asthma spray when he needed one and Luhan’s father had taken his away again. This was how he survived most of the time.

Chen could still remember his first winter on the streets when the snow had gotten so bad and the wind so cold he thought he would just freeze to death. That was before he had found the small somewhat sheltered place under one of the less busy bridges in water-district. In his old place, he has had no shelter from the wind. He still didn’t own a winter coat, but at least he still had the old sleeping bag someone had handed to him. An older student, he had already graduated last year. That was all the bony boy has had to fight against the cold of the winter.

In the worst week of them all, when the snow didn’t stop and the wind had made things a hundred times worse, he had gotten sick. He had no insurance. Granted, he was probably insured in some way, this was Korea after all, but since his parents had thrown him out of their house he couldn’t use it. One evening his fever had been so high, he had hallucinated a little. He had been sure that when he would fall asleep that night, he wouldn’t be able to awake the next morning, but gladly, he did.

That was when he had got to know Yixing’s mom, the small, kind-hearted, broken person that she was, but kind enough to help him, to assist him and let him sleep in her house, share a bed with her son, that she was struggling daily to care for. He had spent a week living with the Zhangs, sleeping next to Lay, sharing not only his blanket but his life with the boy. He had wished he could’ve stayed there forever, in the mouldy old house with the loud neighbours and the scary streets, that felt more like home than his own home had ever felt, but he couldn’t do that to Misses Zhang. He just couldn’t let her bear the burden of another mouth to feed.

Misses Zhang, the drug-addicted illegal prostitute, working the days at a diner to pay the bills and the nights by the river to pay for everything else. The person Chen had the utmost respect for in the whole world, for the fact how much she cared about her only son, how much she would sacrifice just to know he was safe and cared for. She would never let anything happen to him, would always make sure he had all he needed, whatever it was. She was the one who loved her son unconditionally. If Chen said she would take a bullet for him, he meant it.

But it still hurt him to know how much of a burden Lay felt he was for her. How he knew he was the reason she was struggling so much more than she should. But she was so determined to get him through school, into college, into a stable job and life. She was determined to make him have everything she had never had, make sure he is happy above anything else. She wanted him to have a good job, a good home, a normal life and a partner who loved him.

Chen remembered how much she had despised Yun Taehyun, Yixing’s first boyfriend he had in middle school. She never said anything, never made her son break up with him, that in the end had been Luhan’s job, but she had despised everything about him. Cause she could see through him, through his demeanour and attitude right into his rotten soul. She had been incredibly happy to hear that they had separated, even though she had pretended not to be while she was trying to cheer him up.

However she had more than approved of the smart, kind, pretty and well-spoken exchange student that Lay had started dating a few months later, but who wouldn’t approve of cheeky Chen Xiang with his infectious smile and sassy demeanour. He had been the kind one, the one to teach Lay how love was really supposed to work. It had been a shame when he left for China again after a year. He had been one of the kindest people Chen had ever encountered. He had been the one to set up the food program in south high and south middle school, which enabled the poorest and most vulnerable students of the school to be able to get a free lunch every day. Chen knew that he was the reason Chen Xiang had worked to set up this program, had e-Mailed with the administration and the city to get funding, and had spoken to supermarkets to get resources. All because he knew about Chen, about the hunger-stricken boy who lived on the streets, but still religiously went to school in hopes of somehow having a shot at a future other than crime, drugs or prostitution.

Chen missed this program. It had been the one nutritious meal he had a day, it had kept him alive, had kept him awake, but ever since the change to SM-high there were no more free lunches. It was a shame considering the school had so many more resources than south high had, but nobody ever considered the poorest of the students, nobody ever considered there were people too poor to afford food. And not a single one of them ever told anybody. The shame too deeply engraved into their bones; the shame of not being able to even afford basic simple things. And there was the fear of exposing how vulnerable to exploitation they were. So nobody ever spilt and there was no more Chen Xiang in the school to ask for food for them. So all of them just put up with it, like they had done before the Chinese exchange student ever came to their school.

 

 

 

“Lay, can you please clean the blackboard for me,” Mr Nahm asked while most of the students were already streaming out of the classroom. The Chinese student just nodded and took the sponge from the teacher's table. The teacher himself was gathering his papers.

“What are you still doing here Kim Minseok?” he asked Xiumin who was sitting on a table in the front row.

“Waiting for Yixing, I got to talk to him,” he said smiling brightly at his teacher. His physics grades had not been too great in the last round of tests so he had to try to be the nicest person around to at least polish his oral grade a little bit.

“Maybe you should already leave, I want Lay to reorganize the selves too, that will probably take a few minutes,” the teacher suggested but Xiumin who really tried to polish his miserable exam grade was having something else in mind.

“Oh, I can help with that,” he said. There was nothing his teacher could say about this so he just watched his students rearrange the shelves, putting everything back to where it originally belonged, before students after experiments had put it back into the wrong spot. It actually didn’t take that long when done with a partner, so only six or seven minutes later both students were done with the work and being dismissed by their teacher.

“What do you want to talk to me about?” Lay asked as soon as they were in the somewhat empty hallway.

“You and Suho,” Xiumin just said, wiggling his eyebrows.

“What do you mean?” the other asked confused, causing his Hyung to chuckle.

“Is there something going on between you two?” he asked grinning mischievously. The eyes of the Chinese boys grew wide, the shock exposed in every feature of his face. “So, that’s a no?” the older questioned hesitantly.

“No, I mean, Yes, there is nothing between us. Why would there be something between us,” Lay started to ramble, his hands nervously gripping his shirt. Xiumin had always been good with body language, so he knew what this meant as soon as he saw it.

“But you like him, don’t you?”

Not only was Xiumin good with body language, but the truth was written all over Lays face as soon as he had said those words. Looking like he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar Lay tried denying everything, but there was no way to persuade his Hyung at this point.

“AWWWW, SO CUTE,” he squeaked loudly, hints of protest in Lays face, but Xiumin didn’t let him speak, instead asking: “Will you ask Suho out on a date? You two would be sooooo cute together! You should really make a move! Or drop some hints, just make them obvious, Suho can be a bit obliterate sometimes! Like, really really really obliterate,” he rambled on, jumping while walking next to Lay to the canteen because he was so excited.

“I don’t think he likes me in that way,” Lay said carefully, but his Hyung was not having any of it: “Yea sure and Baekhyung won’t break his neck when he trips over the huge crush on Chanyeol he is dragging around with him all the time!”

“What?” the Chinese boy asked genuinely confused by whatever the other had just said.

“I was just saying he does like you, so one of you two has to now make a move,” Xiumin simply stated.

“Why would he like me in that way?” the younger started arguing but was interrupted quickly: “He is my friend, I know him well, and when I say I know he likes you I mean I KNOW, do you understand? First: He is more patient with you than he has ever been with any living creature on the planet, I mean that literally, second: I see the way he looks at you, talks to you, worries about you and third: you are his type!”

“I don’t think…,” Lay began again, interrupted by Xiumin’s loud sigh. “Why don’t you just ask him out for bubble tea or something,” he suggested.

“I don’t know how…”

“Just say: Hey, Suho, I kinda like you, do you wanna grab some coffee after school? Just like that,” the older said rolling his eyes.

“That’s not how this works,” the younger tried to argue, but was interrupted again: “It did for Chen!”

“But Chen is different! He is really casual and easy to talk to and…,” he rambled on.

“Yea, and so is Suho, so just ask,” Xiumin said again. It was a little frustrating to see how oblivious his friend was to the looks he got from Suho, but in the end, he wasn’t really worse than let say Baekhyun and Chanyeol who if they didn’t just fucking get together already had to endure the absolute maximum amount of teasing next sleepover!

Lay still didn’t look convinced by his Hyungs words, but they had arrived in the canteen so he had to let it go… at least for now. Xiumin would definitely come back to this topic as soon as he had the chance to!

 

 

 

“My mom said I should remind you both that your parents have to pay the bill for the car reparations till Friday or she will get the police involved,” Suho proclaimed right when he had sat down at the lunch table. Both Kyungsoo and Chen looked troubled by the statement, but nobody wanted to say anything. They still had two days to find a way to come up with the money, but how they had no clue. There was nobody they could borrow from and how could they ask for money knowing they might not be able to ever pay it back?

“Have you talked to your parents about that?” Jongin asked, making Kyungsoo roll his eyes. Why on earth did Jongin think it was his business? Or did he just not know anything else to talk about.

“Yes,” he lied just so the other would stop talking about the only thing that was in his head for a day.

“What did they say?” he asked curiously. “That I shouldn’t have done that,” Kyungsoo replied stoically looking at Luhan and his shared food.

These days it was specifically tough at home. He hadn’t had anything to eat since yesterday’s lunch he had shared with Luhan and not only his body but also his patience was running low. He was already losing more weight; he noticed his ribcage becoming more prominent than it had been before. He was basically skin and bones, no fat to lose, no muscle mass, no nothing. You could probably count every single vertebra in his back. However, Kyungsoo was still sure he could get through this, thinking Luhan had looked much worse after the two weeks of starvation he had been through right after assessment exams. Kyungsoo had it easy, having one nearly guaranteed meal a day, well at least half a meal a day.

But him not having dinner or breakfast was not what hit him the hardest. His little siblings not being able to have a proper meal was always the worst for him. He hoped they had someone at school to share some food with them, but he could never be sure. It made him feel like an awful big brother to his baby sisters. Watching them get skinnier and skinnier hurt him more than anything else ever could. Watching their little arms get bony and their faces sink in a little. It was unbearable for him.

“By the way Kris, are you inviting anybody except the usual six next Saturday?”Jongin asked across the table. He just shrugged with his shoulders.

“I assume Chen and Luhan are coming?” he muttered a side-glance to Xiumin and Sehun, who themselves looked to their boyfriends.

“Are you free on Saturday?” Sehun asked getting a nod and a smile from Luhan.

“How about you Chanyeol?” Kris asked the taller sitting two places away from him.

“What?” he answered confused, he had clearly not been listening to Kris’ words.

“Are you coming to our sleepover on Saturday?” Kris asked again.

“Yea, sure,” he answered smiling awkwardly. “So, it’s us plus three,” Kris answered Jongin.

 

“What are you doing on Friday?” Sehun asked Luhan, watching him eat the last bit of potato on his plate. It bugged him a little that he was only eating half a portion, especially because he already was so skinny, but he chose to not intervene. It felt wrong to him to command Luhan around, especially a boyfriend he hadn’t really had a proper kiss with yet. He really wasn’t sure about when to do this, there had been a couple of instances he wanted to, but had chickened out. Even though he was sure that due to his injury Luhan couldn’t go swimming with him anymore, he was still hoping to spend some time alone with the older boy on the weekend.

“Detention,” Luhan answered with a sigh. Oh, right, he didn’t get out of school till early evening.

“What I meant to say was, do you want to come over after school on Friday? Watch some movies or something,” Sehun asked, hoping he would get a positive answer. He really just wanted to spend some more time with his little angel of a boyfriend, but judging from the face he made, that would be a no.

“I am staying over at a friend’s house,” Luhan said abashed, biting those plumb pink lips of his that Sehun wanted to kiss so much a little.

“Oh, well,” he said, not sure what to reply to that. “Who are you staying with?” He was really trying his best to not sound too curious, it was probably just Tao or Lay right? But then he wouldn’t have said “a friend” but their names, would he?

“Just a friend from back in middle school,” Luhan answered casually. It would have been casual for Sehun if this would have been any friend other than Luhan, but there was a little pinch of jealousy he couldn’t deny.

“What are you planning on doing?” he asked, trying not to sound suspicious.

“His boyfriend got a job in diplomacy so they are moving to Korea for at least a while. It’s kind of a welcome party. Yixing and Tao are also coming,” Luhan bubbled out. Maybe he had tensed his boyfriends’ jealousy and was just trying to calm his nerves a little.

“Can I come with you?” he asked, biting his tongue. Why on earth had he said that? Did he really have this little trust in Luhan that he couldn’t even let him go to a small house-party?

“I don’t know, it’s kinda useless for you to be there,” Luhan answered clarifying: “As far as I know, everybody invited is Chinese, so we will all speak Chinese and you wouldn’t even understand what’s going on.”

“Oh, I understand,” Sehun answered biting his lip a little.

“But we can do something on Sunday right? Like after the sleepover and stuff,” Luhan suggested.

“Sure,” Sehun replied, feeling a little warmer just from receiving one of Luhan’s infectious smiles.

 

 

 

One of the better things about detention was that currently, exclusively south high students were having to be there, so as long as they were making sure the lovable Chinese teacher was busy with something, they could speak openly about what was going on with them.

“What are you going to do?” Kyungsoo asked quietly to Chen who had picked the place next to him on purpose.

“I have no fucking clue,” he answered, biting down on his lips. None of them had 300 dollars to spend, they just hadn’t, but they only had two more days to somehow come up with it.

“I don’t think there is anybody I could steal it from without being caught either,” Chen sighed leaning his head against Kyungsoo’s bony shoulder as he did with Xiumin’s from time to time.

“I can’t steal money,” the other just answered, sincerity in his words.

“That’s what I would have said before being kicked out, but know I just do what I have to do,” the older answered bluntly. It was the truth, he had been raised by a God-fearing, conservative family, had been raised to be an upright citizen, but now, what was left of this? Now he did what he had to do, in hopes of a better life in the future.

“You lost weight,” Chen commented. It was hard to tell because Kyungsoo had been bony for the longest time Chen had known him, but he was sure there were kilograms lost in the last weeks.

“Without the food program I am lost,” he answered quietly. He wasn’t as good as Chen in finding edible food in containers or anything and there was no surviving on what his family had to offer alone.

“I know,” Chen mumbled into the fabric of the other's shirt.

“You gained some,” Kyungsoo stated, poking Chen’s stomach as if there was any fat to pinch. But he was right, his finger didn’t press into bare bones anymore like it had a few weeks ago. “Found a new place to steal food? Or a place to cook?” he asked curiously.

“No, I just think its cause Xiumin loves bubble tea. I always get high sugar because I know it has some calories,” the black haired male answered smiling a little.

“He pays for you?” Kyungsoo asked curiously. “Does he know?”

“Of course he doesn’t know,” Chen replied, adding after a moment of silence: “I told him I was too poor to afford luxuries like this the first time he asked me to come get bubble tea with him. Ever since then he invites me. He never asks questions, he just assumes.” Kyungsoo smiled half-heartedly.

“That’s cute.”

“It feels wrong. You know, I don’t want my boyfriend to have to do this for me, but do I really have a choice?” Chen said, defeat in his voice. “It just feels like I have nothing to offer and he is wasting his time on me,” he rambled on.

“I know that feeling,” the other replied, knowing more how this felt than anybody.

“I’ll ask Taehyun for the money,” Kyungsoo blurred out, utter defeat in his voice and eyes.

“Don’t,” Chen said weakly but knowing there was really no other option for his friend other than this.

“You got to do what you got to do,” the owl-eyed male replied with a cracking voice.

“You know he will take advantage of you when you do this,” Chen stated, but he knew the other was aware of this. This was Yun Taehyun they were talking about, if anybody knew what kind of a person he was, it was Kyungsoo.

“I know,” he stated.

“How will you even get through this?” Chen whispered, the teacher a little closer to their table then he was comfortable with.

“Just close my eyes and let it happen,” Kyungsoo stated. “That’s how I did it for two years.”

“Just worry about yourself, I know what I am doing,” the owl-eyed younger stated, caressing the frown on his friend's forehead a little. He knew how it felt like, to see a friend suffering, hell, they all did experience it with Luhan, but Chen was not in a position to feel sorry for him. Chen, the homeless young man, literally living under a bridge was in no position to feel sorry for someone like Kyungsoo! He shouldn’t even think about him, he should just worry about himself and how to get by.

 

It was later in the lesson, only half an hour left till detention would finally end for today when Luhan had decided to have a quick talk with his friend, to tell them what has been going on, to make sure they knew what was happening. Chanyeol had moved his place over to the others, Lay and Luhan sitting in the row behind Chen and Kyungsoo already.

“So you are telling me Baozi knows?” Chen asked perplex, trying to find out if this was just a sick joke Luhan was playing, but he nodded his head.

“He does,” the Chinese boy answered tonelessly.

“How much and how? Is he keeping quiet, will he spill?” Chanyeol asked frantically, getting shushed by Lay.

“He knows about the beatings,” Luhan clarifies, “He basically just put two and two together. He realized that when I get in trouble the day after I have some form of injury. It was only a matter of time till somebody would know, given that everybody on south high figured that out rather quickly…,” the frail-looking boy added.

“Well, it’s not that obvious, nobody else guessed it yet,” Chanyeol chimed in.

“Kris is too close, it worries me,” Luhan answered his voice tainted with concern. “And Suho is too nosy, he might get there,” he added.

“I don’t think so. They are both too deep into their own bubble to think outside the realms of what they know! Just think about it, how long it took for Xiumin to figure it out! They never see things like this in their perfect little-sheltered lives so they are oblivious to it,” Chen said adding: “But more importantly, will he spill?”

“I don’t think so. He let me explain, I think he understands. He made me promise to move in with him as soon as I am legal and he told me to include him into things from now on,” the oldest explained. “Just about me, he didn’t ask for you guys,” he clarified quickly.

“So we can trust him?” Kyungsoo asked sceptically.

“I think so, Xiumin isn’t the one to talk behind our backs,” Chen replied. He wasn’t really surprised by any of this. Not by Xiumin figuring out what was going on, not by him actually listening to Luhan’s side of the story and neither by the promises he had made Luhan make to guarantee his silence. He knew the round-faced boy more than the others and he wanted to think he was the most trustworthy of them all. He was loyal, and that’s all they needed for now.

“Does he know about the other things?” Lay asked quietly, referring to all the other forms of abuse his friend had to endure on a somewhat regular basis. The starving, the lack of medication or the many times he had been made to sleep outside because he had not been worthy of a bed to sleep in or a roof above his head. Luhan, however, shook his head.

“Don’t tell him,” he said quietly.

“Why? He already knows half of it,” Chanyeol asked confused.

“Cause if he knows, he might not think the benefits outweigh the negatives anymore,” Kyungsoo answered on Luhan’s behalf. He was right, exactly this had been the older's fears from the get-go, that if Xiumin truly and fully understood what was going on in the miserable of excuse of a life he had, he would have to tell. So he knew just as much as Luhan though he could bear without the weight of secrecy weighing him down. And that’s how he hoped he could leave it with.

 

 

 

Lay sat on his designated place in math class way too early on Thursday; having left Luhan with Sehun who for some reason was also incredibly early today. Maybe he had texted with Luhan and known about them being earlier than usual so Luhan could get to class somewhat on time despite his walking aid, or maybe it was just by chance. However, that left Yixing with not much to do and way too much to think about and that was never a good idea. Not only were Xiumin’s words from yesterday still roaming in the back of his head, but he had another problem to deal with today, that involved talking to Suho about things that were unpleasant, to say the least. Not that he had only shown his best sides till know, but he really didn’t want to remind the other about all the embarrassing stuff he had done. But as far as he knew, talking to Suho would be the only way to solve his problem, so that’s what he had to do.

“You’re early,” Suho commented after entering the classroom and placing his bag next to his seat next to the younger student.

“So are you,” he countered receiving a smile.

“I’m always early,” he replied sitting down. This would be a good moment to talk to Suho right? Still, fifteen minutes till class would start, nobody in class other than them and most wouldn’t even be here till a minute before begin, so Yixing bit his lip and swallowed his pride and began, slightly stuttering: “Suho, c-can you talk to your mother about s-something?”

Slightly irritated but friendly as usual he answered: “Sure, what about?” Yixing took a deep breath hoping to find the right words to explain the situation.

“I am supposed to go to counselling on Friday after Chinese but I also have detention,” he mumbled barely audible, the shame nibbling at his ego. He was looking at the table to avoid seeing Suho’s reaction, but by the sound of his voice, he didn’t seem too bothered.

“You should go to therapy, I’ll tell mum about it later.” Lay made a noise of agreement and carefully glanced up to see Suho smiling at him. Why did he have to be so lovely again?

“Any plans for the weekend yet?” Suho asked smiling his usual cute smile, locking eyes with his classmate.

“I’m on a house party with Luhan and Tao on Friday,” he carefully told.

“So you are going to get drunk and drown in somebody else’s pool?” he asked, elbowing Lay as soon as he saw his shocked face laughing: “I’m just joking, don’t take this too seriously!” Slightly but not fully relieved the younger decided to not respond anything.

“So are you free on Saturday?” Suho asked cheerfully. For some reason, perplex Lay pointed to himself while looking confused, which made Suho laugh out loud. “You’re being too cute,” he said, while a slight blush crept its way onto Lay’s cheeks.

“So, what are you doing on Saturday?” he repeated his question after not getting an answer the first time around.

“Sobering up in the hospital after drowning in a swimming pool?” Yixing replied. The thought of ‘If you can do this so can I’ had made its way into his brain and before he could stop it he had spoken it out loud causing Suho to facepalm while chuckling: “I see what you did there!”

“But in all seriousness, do you want to come to our sleepover on Saturday?” Suho asked smiling brightly.

“I don’t think I am invited,” Lay replied carefully.

“You are now.”

“Well, if you want me to be there I’d love to come,” the young Chinese man mumbled looking back onto the table.

“Great,” Suho said placing an arm around Lay’s shoulders pulling him closer. It felt friendly but oddly intimate at the same time, Lay had to admit to himself he liked the way Suho was a little protective over him. Maybe it was the absence of a decent father figure in his life or the constant feeling of fear lingering in the back of his mind living in the area he did, but he definitely had a thing for boys that were a little more on the protective side.

The talk he had with Xiumin yesterday came to his mind, the things he had said about Suho and his relationship. Was Suho actually more patient with him than others? Or was this just a coincident. Maybe he was just being nicer to him because he was worried about his mental health after seeing him in the bathroom that day. Yea, that was probably what it was, Xiumin probably mistook Suho’s need to fix things with him having a crush or something. But still, knowing he cared at least a little calmed Lay down, at least he was not feeling like he was annoying him anymore.

 

 

 

Tao had felt the weird looks Kris had given him during lunch break. The older had sensed his bad mood and asked about it, but his questioning had not led Kris to an answer about what was wrong with the younger student. Cause Tao couldn’t tell. If he did, he would give his friend to the wolves. He simply couldn’t let this happen to someone like Luhan. Someone that cared for him, someone giving him tips on how to learn Korean and how to get by in a class he didn’t understand one word in. So he had to keep his mouth shut and go to class like he was supposed to. Thursday afternoon, the first class after lunchbreak was physics class. The way to the classroom seemed longer than usual, for once because he was caught up in thoughts, trying to find ways on how to end this, how to free the situation, but coming up with nothing and the other reason the way to class seemed longer than usual was, that Tao was walking slower, so afraid of going to class, he couldn’t make his feet move any faster than they already did. He would be late, but did it really matter?

His teacher dropped some mean comment when he walked into the physics room ten minutes late, the class laughed, but Tao didn’t understand the derogatory joke so why would he even bother to care anymore? Why did he even still come to this school? Why couldn’t he just run away? Oh right, cause he would get caught and be in an even worse position than he had been before. If there was something he had learned in the last school he had been to in China, that nobody helps the delinquents, even if they cry for help.

They weren’t allowed any cell phones in class so Tao had to spend some time guessing the long from characters in Luhan’s physics book instead of simply looking up their shortened form on the internet. This whole lesson was pointless and so were most of the lessons he had at the moment. Why did it matter that he attended Korean class if he barely spoke enough Korean to get by, let alone analyse some random poems he didn’t understand? Why go to history or politics when he couldn’t understand a single word of what they said?

He couldn’t understand why a school, as adequately funded as this, was not able to provide the same language courses south middle school had been. Sure, there weren’t a lot of students anymore relying on the language program, most of them were still in middle school, but it wasn’t a secret he and Bambam were barely speaking Korean. In all fairness, the older guy from Thailand’s Korean was more than just a bit better than Taos, granted, he had spent more than a year in  the language program, whereas the Chinese boy had only spent a total of 7 months, counting in the month of summer holiday where he actually didn’t have language classes. It was as if nobody in SM-high cared for the foreign kids dammed to south high because of their language skills, or lack there off.

 

When the bell finally rang to dismiss the students and send them to extracurricular classes, Tao didn’t even bother to stand up. He knew what was about to come and there was no way out of this for him. At least no way he had found yet, maybe there was one but he was just oblivious to it.

“Come here Tao,” Mr Nahm ordered coldly as soon as the door had closed after the last student had left the room. Tao stood up leaving his packed bag on the table, his eyes not looking at the teacher standing in front of him. Why would he want to look at this person anyway? What was the point? He was disgusted by every little thing about this man, his cold eyes, his greasy hair, the way he smiled, his need to violate his own students because he saw there was an opportunity to do so. He was disgusted by the way he looked at him and the way he bit his lips as if he was a piece of meat he wanted to savour.

“You’re more the passive type, aren’t you?” he asked with the disgusting voice of his. ‘Yes, but also none of your fucking business,’ was what Tao wanted to say, but his lips were trembling too much to make a sound. Someone had told him there were three types of ways to react to an attack. Fight, flight, freeze, and to his own distaste, the only reaction his body was capable of facing terror was to freeze, to stop any movement and any sound he could make to be heard. All he wanted to do was to shout and scream and fight back, but his body wasn’t letting him do any of this.

He felt his teachers hands that had crept into his trousers to grab his unclothed behind, squeezing the round globes, his fingernails digging into his skin. It was so weird of how the same action with different people could make a person feel in such a different way. But right now all he wanted to do was shower and erase the teacher's touch from his skin, scrub it off with soap and liquid, till the skin was red and the feeling of dirt on the places that had been touched faded.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“I’d like you to be more active today,” Mr Nahm said smirking, but Tao didn’t look up to see his pretentious smile. He didn’t need to see it, to know how much the teacher knew he had control about him. One thing Tao had to give to him was how well aware he was of what he was doing. How cautiously he had picked a victim. Had picked someone who couldn’t tell because of a language barrier, one who wouldn’t be believed because he was an alleged delinquent and not able to defend himself in an argument and one that wouldn’t tell, caught between fear of his only friends getting hurt and his parents finding out he was a victim again. His poor parents, the ones always the last to be told, for various reasons, that blamed themselves for what had happened last time and now that they were already having a hard time coping with everything that had been done without their knowledge, Tao felt even more strongly about never letting them know.

Caught in his own thoughts, trying to numb himself from the whole situation, he hadn’t really noticed anything that was going on, had averted his attention away from the hands in his pants to things other than this. But he was ripped out of his daydreams of a different life by his teacher speaking again, with this weird English accent that made him sound even more predatory than ever: “I want you to be more active, so take it in your mouth and you can go when I’m finished.”

Funny enough the first thing that popped into Taos mind was the way he had phrased it, so awkwardly, the lack of experience with oral English showing. Maybe it was just a coping mechanism in Tao's head to immediately divert from the meaning of the words to something else, a way his mind had found to shield him a little from insanity. For him, it was a blur between his teacher pulling him closer and biting into his neck, another one of those things that he usually enjoyed in a different context and his teacher shoving him down till he was kneeling on the linoleum ground of the classroom.

He was glad for his eyes refusing to focus for some unknown reason, maybe another method his mind deemed as helpful with coping, so he only experienced the whole ordeal in the worst blurry underwater vision he could remember. But it helped to cope. It didn’t help him from wanting to throw up as soon as the foreign object was placed into his mouth, didn’t help him from wanting to pull his hair out as soon as it had been grabbed by the teacher to force his head forward, didn’t help with the lack of air he felt when he started gagging profusely, but the other not caring in any way. Maybe this was how it felt to have breathing problems…

His whole body behaved like a limp puppet being pulled by his hair, the only reactions his body was capable of were completely involuntary reflexes, his eyes unfocused, just looking empty through the blurry room. His ears had apparently also decided this was not a good moment to function properly, or maybe the blood rushing through his head from chocking prevented him from actually hearing the sounds of what happened, but instead hearing them muffled through the sounds of the blood running through his veins, being pumped faster than ever from his erratically fast beating heart.

“Swallow,” was the first word that got through to the Chinese boy's brain after what felt like hours of being unresponsive to any form of sound. Hoping that everything would just end here and there he did how he was told, not moving from the spot he was kneeling at, his body functions little by little coming back to him. He tasted salt and something else, disgustingly sticky liquid with a weird consistency running down his throat. Again he felt like throwing up, now more aware of everything that happened than before, his mindless clouded, his senses coming back to him. The first thing he could see clearly again was his teacher buttoning up his trousers, glaring down at him.

********************************************************************************

“You should get to extracurricular activities, you are already twenty-five minutes late,” his teacher commented, not a hint of what he had just done lingered in his voice. No guilt, no understanding of committing a crime, no regret. He actually had the audacity to reach out a hand to the young boy to help him get up onto his feet again, handing him his book bag.

“See you on Tuesday,” he commented before pushing the student to the door.

With unsecured steps like a new-born horse, he made his way through the abandoned hallways into the nearest bathroom to do what he had wanted to do for what felt like hours. So he could lean over a toilet gagging in the memory of what had just happened, hoping that that would somehow make him feel better in any way, knowing it wouldn’t, but still hoping there was a way.

 

 

 

Fifteen minutes had passed in extracurricular sports class, Kyungsoo was mostly sitting on the sidelines, because the class was so big and full of students nobody really noticed anybody not actually participating. Not only that, but most of the south high kids had realized by now that this class was the only class in the school where it was very unlikely that someone would notice them being absent. That was to Kyungsoo’s advantage because he was currently not in the physical shape to actually participate in sports of any sort, his body deprived of nutrition, feeling weak and drowsy at times.

Kyungsoo, however, had something else on his mind. Tao still hadn’t come to class. Most people hadn’t noticed it, considering the class size and how hard it was to actually count because everybody was moving around all the time, but Kyungsoo had his eyes open to find the younger the whole time. Exactly a week ago he had found the Chinese boy in a bathroom crying and just a day later Mark and Jackson had told them about the things a physics teacher had done to a student. Kyungsoo wasn’t dumb; he had put two and two together since the Friday they had sat in a bathroom on the third floor listening to Mark talk. Kai had told him they had physics class after lunch so Kyungsoo was now surer than ever, that the disgusting excuse of a teacher had not stopped after the bullying they had all gotten in trouble for. Furthermore, he might have been emboldened by it.

Another ten minutes had passed without Tao coming to class and Kyungsoo decided to pretend to go to the bathroom to find the younger. Instinctively he went straight to the bathroom he had found him last time, on the one hand hoping he would be there, on the other hand hoping he would not because that would mean he had a reason to be there. The bathroom was empty, not giving Kyungsoo any good vibes. He stood by the window watching his classmates play soccer for a minute thinking about where to search for Tao next when he heard somebody open the door.

For the fraction of a second Kyungsoo thought about where he could hide, then sprinting inside an empty stall locking the door, but only a few seconds after, when he heard someone run into an empty stall violently coughing, he knew who it was. Carefully he came out of the stall, following the noise to the stall closest to the entrance. Tao hadn’t locked the door so very carefully Kyungsoo opened it, slipping into the stall quietly whispering: “Tao.”

The other briefly looked up before emptying his stomach again. Kyungsoo felt awkward, trying to rub the younger’s back hoping it would give him any comfort. Even though Kyungsoo considered his English skills somewhat decent he felt nervous trying to actually communicate in English for once. He was not prepared for conversations in English other than the absolute monumentally basic stuff. But he knew there was no other way of communication possible. Tao probably spoke a little bit of Korean, he had learned it for half a year or so, but there was no way he was fluent enough to communicate about what had happened. Hell, he probably didn’t even know the vocabulary necessary.

“Should I get Mark?” he carefully asked while awkwardly rubbing his back. He shook his head a little before gaging again.

“What happened,” he carefully questioned even though he could assume what had been going on. Tao made a gesture that took the older a few seconds to understand, then himself feeling sick to his stomach. But also angry, angry at how this could even happen, at how apparently nobody was noticing, angry at a person like this still having a job and angry at the fact that most of the south high kids had been deterred from attacking Mr Nahm by the repercussions and the fact he apparently knew hitting Luhan was a winning strategy.

“You got to talk to someone,” Kyungsoo whispered staring at the blank wall of the stall, he didn’t have it in him to actually look at his friend, even though he knew he would just disagree.

“I can’t,” he coughed, barely looking up to glance at the other.

“But why?” Kyungsoo asked, knowing way too well how hard it was to ever talk about things like this. It seemed so much easier to not talk and just let it happen.

“I can’t talk,” he said. It took a moment for Kyungsoo to understand. Did he mean he couldn’t physically talk about what had happened or did he mean he couldn’t do so in Korean? Or maybe both...

“They wouldn’t believe me anyway,” he whimpered, tears streaming down his cheeks.

“Who wouldn’t believe you?” Kyungsoo asked quietly, having a good guess who he was talking to.

“The principal never believes the south high kids. What teacher would stand up for a student like me,” Tao answered sobbing so profusely it was unbelievably hard to understand for the other. He only understood a few words so he had to guess what rest of the sentence could be.

“Maybe talk to one of the English teachers?” Kyungsoo suggested. Shouldn’t that be an option? “Or Misses Chen,” he added. Tao looked genuinely confused at the suggestion of Misses Chen, asking quietly: “How do you know her?”

“She is designated for detention class. She is really nice, she will understand. And she speaks Chinese,” Kyungsoo said but Tao was just shaking his head.

“It doesn’t matter if the principal doesn’t care.”

“But you can try, what do you have to lose?” the older asked carefully.

“He told me, if I tell anybody, he will make Luhan pay for it.” This short sentence, spoken slowly so Kyungsoo could understand every word of it made a shiver run down his spine and his eyes grow wide.

“How does he know?” he asked as soon as he had found his voice again. Tao shrugged his shoulders but looked so desperate it literally hurt his Hyung.

“Fuck this,” Kyungsoo said out loud sitting down onto the floor opposite of Tao just staring blankly at the wall, searching for an answer that wasn’t there. What on earth were they supposed to do?

 

 

 

Kyungsoo decided to skip detention, knowing full well that he would regret that when facing Suho tomorrow, but there were other things, more urgent ones he had to do; Specifically find Taehyun before he got off work. It took a while to walk to the studio he worked at, at least used to work at. To be honest with himself Kyungsoo wasn’t even sure his Ex was still working at the tattoo place he used to, not having spoken to him since their breakup last year. However, he was still confident in what he did, considering Taehyun had been working there for years, it was probably still a good bet.

It took about forty-five minutes to the shop since it was the other direction from his home Kyungsoo knew that now it would most likely take three hours to go home, however, the mere thought of not being able to somehow scratch together the dollars had made him stay up at night. He had to find a way, and the only way he could see was Taehyun.

He gently pushed open the door of the studio, making the little bell ring. It looked very much like the way it had looked the last time he had been here. Some of the artwork had been replaced, there was a new sofa and the weird doll head had an additional four piercings on its lip. It was weird to be here again, but it also felt like coming home. Kyungsoo sat down onto the sofa, trying to make himself as small as possible, becoming one with the soft material, even though making himself small was not necessary, he was already merely a skeleton with skin.

“Oh Soo, didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” a familiar voice said. The tall nearly completely tattooed man was smirking down at him while waving off a customer that just left through the door.

“Are you waiting for Taehyun?” he asked letting himself fall next to the other onto the sofa.

“Yea, he still works here right Joe?” Joey had always been a weird cookie, oddly friendly and close to everyone, but also not really close to anyone. He seemed to know everything that was going on, because people liked to talk to him about their problems, specifically while he was tattooing them, but nobody really ever knew what was going on with him. He had been the one to tell Kyungsoo every single time who and when Taehyun had fucked someone else.

“Yea, where else would he be?” he laughed pushing the smaller a little. “You look miserable, want some food?” he asked getting up and getting something out of the mini fridge they had under the counter. They always kept cake and other unhealthy snacks there. When Kyungsoo had still been together with Taehyun he had often baked for them, making sure their supply of snacks was not running out. Kyungsoo knew there was no point in telling Joe no so he just thanked him for the giant piece of cake he was handed.

“Are you here cause you miss him being an asshole to you or are you here because you are starving to death without him?” the taller asked casually while stuffing his mouth with the cake. Oddly enough the owl-eyed student was sure he had never actually talked with Joe about his family situation, or money problems, or anything like this, but maybe Taehyun had or maybe he had just figured it out himself.

“More the later than the first,” he admitted.

“Yea, I thought so.” A moment of silence, both chewing on their cake. Kyungsoo savoured every bite, hoping the sugar and calories would at least restore his lack of energy ever since he had been starving.

“Do you think he will help me out?” he asked carefully. Nobody was as close to his Ex as his workmates, so asking them was probably a safe bet to make.

“Honestly? The same as usual. If he gets something, he will give something in return, you know how he is, he will always repay his debt like a Lannister,” Joey joked. Kyungsoo was not completely familiar with the TV show the other had been obsessed with since episode one, but he knew enough to reply: “And just as vicious as a Lannister.”

“Brutal is the word your searching for little one,” the other answered, finishing his plate and placing it onto the counter. “I got to go home, got someone waiting for me there, good luck little one,” he said giving him a weird salute gesture before he walked out the door.

Taehyun showed up into the entrance area a few minutes later, saying goodbye to a young woman who had a wrapped up tattoo on her leg, before turning to the small boy sitting on the sofa.

“You here?” he said before walking to the fridge and getting a piece of cake out of it.

“Yea, I’m here,” Kyungsoo mumbled, trying to sound as confident as he possibly could. His Ex placed another piece of cake in front of him before sitting down next to the younger with his own plate in hand.

“Let me guess, you need money for food or you will starve to death so you are here to get my help?” he asked raising his left eyebrow, the one with the shiny silver piercing he had gotten right before both of them had gotten together. Right after he had broken up with Yixing.

“Kinda,” Kyungsoo sighed defeated, keeping his eyes on the plate. He was already humiliating himself, there was no point in trying to argue about his stupid motives. Taehyun was looking at him up and down, clearly seeing his bony arms and the outline of his shoulder bones. He could see his bad shape with just a little glance. He knew the younger too well, knew the way he had looked before getting together with him and the way he had looked during their relationship. For the good and the bad, with all the things he had put Kyungsoo through, all the ways he had mistreated him regularly, the manipulation, the tears, the pain, he had always made sure he wasn’t starving. Even the day he had pushed him head first into the kitchen counter because he was being angry at him for nothing Taehyun had made sure he still had food to eat.

“So what do you need?” he asked straightforward. Even Taehyun was not pretending like there was a chance of them ending up together anymore. It came as a relief to the younger, mainly because he thought the mere thought of better or at least less hungry times might lead him back into Taehyun’s iron grip.

“I need one hundred fifty dollars,” he said bluntly. There was no way to talk this pretty or anything. It was the way it was.

“For what?” his Ex replied, maybe confused about how meticulous the younger was with what he wanted.

“Long story,” he said, hoping the other wouldn’t dive into deeper, but he knew better and wasn’t really surprised by the tattooed man chuckling: “And?”

“I got into trouble for vandalizing a car and have to pay parts of the reparation costs,” he explained.

“You? Vandalizing? Are you sure you haven’t been swapped with an alien?” the older joked while stuffing the last bit of cake into his mouth.

“The teacher had molested a friend of mine and we were getting some sweet revenge.”

“Ok, that makes more sense,” Taehyun answered casually, placing his plate onto the tiny table in front of him.

“So you will let me have you again if I give you that money?” Taehyun asked bluntly, a smirk on his face. He knew everything about Kyungsoo’s desperate situation, knew every little detail of his life, so he knew he could ask for anything right now and he also knew, Kyungsoo knew what he wanted.

“I don’t really have a choice do I?” the younger asked looking up to his Ex, staring into the eyes he had loved for a long time. The smirk on his face grew wider, his teeth were showing.

“Then how about we go to my place, remember rule number one: Never fuck in the studio,” he said, Kyungsoo mouthing the rule with him. That had been the first thing Joey had said to him when they had been introduced to each other. Not his name, not hello, but rule number one and two of the studio. Don’t fuck in the studio and don’t fuck clients. The truth of the matter was, however, that Taehyun had not followed rule number two ever. Or maybe that rule was only valid for female clients…

“Sure,” Kyungsoo said quietly, lazily getting up from the sofa.

“Do I need to call your neighbours again so they can tell your parents you’re staying with me tonight?” he asked casually while cleaning up the plates. He was well aware of the younger’s family not having any form of cell phone, so he used to call his neighbours so they would tell them not to worry.

“No need to, they know,” the younger said, getting a weird look from his Ex.

“Well you know me better than anyone,” he joked smirking again.

 

Sooner than Kyungsoo had hoped he was lying on the huge comfortably soft bed he had been lying on so many times, waiting for what was to come next. Taehyun like to kiss a lot before actually doing it, the greedy kisses felt so familiar to Kyungsoo, the piercings his Ex had on this lower lip feeling oddly cold against his. Taehyun had a thing for overpowering his partners, he liked to grab them, push them around, pull them to him and give them no chance to put up a fight. That’s why he liked short and weak people like Kyungsoo so much because putting on a fight would be useless for them from the get-go. One of his big hands was gripping the other's neck painfully, shoving him to his lips and not letting him go. The other hand was busy running up and down Kyungsoo’s sides before fumbling around at the bottom of his jeans.

Everything happened really quickly, just like the younger had it in his memory. Taehyun was not a patient man in general, but specifically not in bed, so it didn’t take long for him to pull off Kyungsoo’s and his own clothing, pushing the smaller onto the bed, the way he liked it the most, the smaller lying on his stomach. Kyungsoo believed the real reason Taehyun like it this way was so he could push his head into the pillows when he began to cry in pain. There was no if, in this situation, Kyungsoo always cried.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Without a warning sign, Taehyun had decided to align himself at the younger’s small hole and push in in one go, grabbing onto the youngers hair to push his head down into the pillows, muffling his cry. It was more than just painful, the feeling of being stabbed, being torn apart was the only thing the younger could feel. Too soon for him, the older had begun to move inside of him, Kyungsoo hadn’t even been able to deal with the initial pain of penetration yet when the other had started to move in and out of him in a fast paste, the friction killing him. If the older wouldn’t be so sufficient in muffling any sound by pushing his face into the pillows, the neighbours might have thought someone was being murdered in this room. The stabbing pain ran from his behind up his spine, making him shiver and cry out even louder, but barely any sound escaped the pillows he was being pushed into.

The pain was a mixture of a burn in the entrance area and a stab in the others, he was oddly sure that he probably had ripped something, specifically after he felt the other gliding in and out a little easier than before. Maybe the blood was helping him slide better, who knew? One of the things Kyungsoo had always wondered while lying there being penetrated, trying to somehow find a way to distract himself from all the pain he was feeling, was if other bottoms just liked the pain, cause apparently, this could be enjoyable for some people. Kyungsoo didn’t know how, but he had heard of those boys and he felt nothing but jealousy towards them. Or maybe it was easier when wearing a condom? Maybe that way everything just went smoother and the burning sensation from the friction of pure dry skin would feel different…

Taehyun never used a condom with him, that’s what he did with the multiple one-night-stands he had during their relationship. Kyungsoo had once asked him about using lubrication, he had heard this would make things less painful, but his then boyfriend had refused, saying it just wouldn’t feel the same anymore, something about less friction. So he had just opted to buy paracetamol for the younger to hand him after every time he had been particularly rough with him. Kyungsoo just hoped that he was still in the habit of doing that because judging from the pain he was feeling in his lower abdomen he would need it to be able to walk the next day.

It felt like hours had passed by, nothing really able to distract Kyungsoo from the horrendous pain he was going through. It was probably because he hadn’t done it a single time since the relationship had fallen apart, he just wasn’t used to it anymore, but at least he didn’t feel the need to hold himself back from crying into the pillows. He knew how well they absorbed the sound, so at least he could let it all out, feeling a little bit better than otherwise.

Through the pain he barely felt the other releasing himself buried deep inside his ass, only feeling the difference when Taehyun pulled out of him, sliding out smoother than before. It wasn’t like the pain subsided after he had pulled out, it was more like the kind of pain differed. He was not feeling like getting stabbed into his abandonment again and again anymore, but know he could clearly feel his rim being abuse, his muscles being score and his every movement sending small shots of pain through his body.

**********************************************************************************

Taehyun cleaned him up like he always did, leaving for a moment to come back with a glass handing it to the younger who only for that reason had to try sitting up. It was a bad idea and sent another wave of tears down his cheeks.

“Take two at once,” Taehyun ordered, placing two tablets into the youngers hand, most likely some form of pain medication, so he gulped them down rather quickly, washing them down with the water, handing the glass back to slightly concerned looking Taehyun, who pushed him down onto the bed again.

Minutes after the taller guy with the many piercings and tattoos had turned off the lights and laid down next to his Ex-boyfriend, one of his tattooed arms slung around the youngers waist, pulling him closer to his body, his breath tickling in Kyungsoo’s neck, the warmth of his body comforting him. Unlike in his home, this one was air-conditioned so warmth didn’t just feel like the unwanted one at home but like the welcoming arms of someone who loved him. Kyungsoo wasn’t dumb enough to believe the false claims of love Taehyun had told to him, but it still felt comforting to lay in someone’s arms. That was probably the reason so many boys like him put up with all the pain, just to feel this close and warm through and through afterwards. At least that is what Kyungsoo though might be the reason. It had been for him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this new (way too long chapter).  
> If you did, leave a comment ^-^ (I love reading them, I really do. I appreciate to hear your opinions about the story and your predictions and stuff ^-^)  
> Thank for all the kudos I've gotten so far and of course thanks to all the lovely commenter!  
> I'll see ya'll soon  
> XOXO


	18. loved and treasured

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello, dear lovely readers. This chapter is rated M and might be a little graphic. If you want to skip the graphic-parts skip as soon as you see this: ------- to this: ******. Ctrl + F is your friend. Peace! (If you chose to skip you're not missing out on much ^-<

 

Running through the school was prohibited by school guidelines, but after showering after sports extracurricular and then waiting for Lay to finish showering, they were both a little bit late for detention. They would most likely not get in trouble for being late but who knew. Luhan had already made sure both of them had places to sit, he left extracurricular a little bit earlier, because of his broken foot he couldn’t participate anyway.

“What are you doing here?” Chen asked right away when he sat down on his seat next to his round-faced boyfriend smiling at him innocently.

“Accompanying you,” he said smiling. The younger just shook his head in confusion. Why would anybody go to detention if there was no need to, but technically there was no rule against this so Chen had no business in telling Xiumin what to do or not to do. “I just wanted to cuddle a little,” he sighed, placing one arm around Chen onto his side and leaning his head onto Chen’s bony shoulder.

“Of course you did,” he chuckled getting his books out of his bag while trying to not move his shoulder too much.

It was not like he didn’t enjoy Xiumin being his touchy self always greedy for cuddles and any other form of affection, it was the opposite. Because Chen didn’t have parents or siblings or mostly anybody to give him affection like this, he greatly enjoyed the older giving him this kind of recognition. He just didn’t like to show him how much he was longing for his affection.

“Can you stay at mine tonight,” Xiumin asked, looking up at Chen with his big beautiful eyes, pouting deliberately because he knew Chen was susceptible for this kind of cuteness.

“Where did that come from?” he asked curiously. It was Thursday, they had classes tomorrow morning and he had never stayed over at Xiumin’s, except for the sleepover night. That night when Xiumin had totally slept more or less on top of him because sleeping Xiumin liked cuddling even more than awake Xiumin, and that was a high bar to top!

“My mum is visiting my grandparents, my dad is working the night shift and I don’t like being alone at night,” Xiumin answered without any shame in his voice. It was somewhat refreshing how he was not afraid to share some secrets or embarrassing details about himself, unlike everybody else in south high who rather died from STDs than go to the doctor cause they feared the judgement of a person they would most likely never ever see again and that most likely wouldn’t remember them anyway.

“So?” the older questioned, sounding like an impatient child waiting for the food to be ready.

“Sure,” Chen mumbled. As much as he knew he shouldn’t; he still had to find someone to steal the money from; he was longing for the affection, for the security of a house he could sleep in without having his guards up, the calmness and the air-conditioning, and of course the comfort of sleeping in an actual bed. How could he say no to his cute boyfriend offering him to sleep in his bed when the alternative was the stone floor in a sheltered place under a bridge? He couldn’t, even though he knew better.

Even if he would get into the worst trouble of his life for not having the money on time, he felt no regret after his boyfriend smiled at him in the most honest and heart-warming way making him feel more blessed than ever. How did he exactly deserve this little cutie again?

“You can call your parents from my phone,” Xiumin suggested cheerfully handing his boyfriend his iPhone but Chen declined, saying: “Honestly, they don’t care about that, probably won’t even notice I’m not home.” Well, that was as close to the whole truth as it got. The younger closely examined his boyfriend’s reaction to his honesty; it was as if the slight realization had hit him, followed by sadness.

“Don’t worry Hyung,” Chen reassured pulling the other closer to him. “I’m fine, I’m always fine. Remember, I am used to this,” he said, trying to cheer the other up. He pouted a little and stayed quiet for a while, maybe stomaching the new information he now had, maybe just running some thoughts through his head.

 

 

They took the bus to Xiumin’s place; the older had put Chen’s bus fare onto his card without even asking about it. It felt wrong to be this person, the one with nothing to offer, always depending on other people to pay for him, but at least Xiumin didn’t seem to think so, spending the twenty-minute bus ride with intertwining their fingers and cuddling into Chen’s side. He himself was quite sure this couldn’t be that comfortable considering his current weight, but he decided it was his Hyungs decision to do what he wanted so he just sat there and enjoyed it.

After leaving their shoes at the entrance and their bags in the living room, Xiumin went straight to the kitchen.

“What do you want to eat?” he asked opening the fridge.

“Whatever you want is ok,” Chen answered.

“So roasted Scorpion legs with hot sauce?” Xiumin joked getting poked in his sides for that. “I’ll just make pasta,” he chuckled and pulled out some utensils. Chen had placed himself on top of one of the kitchen counters so he could watch his boyfriend prepare the food.

“I thought rich kids don’t know how to cook,” he blurted out after a while.

“You thought wrong,” the round-faced one replied without looking up from chopping vegetables.

“I guess I don’t know much about you rich folks,” Chen said making Xiumin chuckle.

“I don’t know much about the hard caveman life of yours either so I guess you’re fine.”

After stuffing themselves with more food than Chen had eaten all week Xiumin had decided they should watch some TV before going to bed.

“Is there anything you want to watch? Any shows you like?” Xiumin questioned while sitting down next to Chen on the sofa, leaning against his shoulders, waiting for the other to put his arms around him.

“I don’t really watch TV that often,” he said with a weird undertone in his voice while wrapping his arms around the older.

“Who doesn’t watch TV?” he asked while skipping through the channels. Sighing the younger debated himself on whether or not to slip some more information into Xiumin today and decided it wouldn’t hurt.

“Well, I don’t have a TV,” he stated. Xiumin looked up to him, his head more or less on Chen's chest now, his big eyes filled with confusion.

“Oh,” he mumbled quickly sitting back into his original position continuing flipping through channels. “Well, you’re not missing out on much, there’s a lot of garbage on TV,” he exclaimed.

“Stop feeling bad for me, I’m fine, I’m used to that,” Chen mumbled while kissing down Xiumin’s neck, placing a line of kisses from his ear to his collarbone.

“But…,” he began but got lost and never finished his thought, too distracted from the warm soft kisses placed down his neck and the hands wrapped around his middle, leaning his head back to be able to capture Chen’s lips for a moment sinking into the feeling of his gentle touches. Maybe all of his hardships did make him gentler, knowing how rough the world was, making him softer and more appreciating of what he had.

Xiumin was the one to separate their lips, gasping for air.

“You should learn to breathe through your nose and you wouldn’t need to stop to breathe so quickly,” Chen nagged sassily while nibbling on the older's earlobe, then kissing down his neck again. The back of his neck was definitely more sensible than his throat area was, shown by the little-surprised moan the other let out when Chen was intensely kissing his neck.

“I’ll take that advice and work on it,” Xiumin mumbled under a moan, his eyes closed, but his heart beating at double speed.

“You’re needy,” the younger commented when being pulled away from his boyfriend’s milky white neck to kiss him again, but gladly taking that opportunity to ravish another deep kiss, savouring every little moment of it. It had been a while since his last boyfriend if you could even call it that, friends with benefits would probably be the right word for the multiple short relationships he had had, but none of the boys were anywhere near the level of preciousness he had for the little Baozi that was laying in his arms right now. South high relationships were always like this. It was either all or nothing. It was either something like Mark and Jackson had, something super stable and incredibly loving, or it was just a relationship to fuck and be fucked. Ok, there was the third thing, also known as whatever Kyungsoo and Taehyun had, but this was rarer than one would expect given the desperate states some of these students were in.

Xiumin had shifted in his position, now facing Chen completely and not leaning against him anymore. He carefully as if to test if that was ok with the younger slipped on his lap, straddling him while wrapping his arms around Chen’s neck. It was odd for the younger to see Mr Confidence in person be so insecure and thoughtful about what he was doing, but instead of speaking out the sassy remark he had on his tongue he used it to again capture his lovers’ lips, those plump soft pinkish lips of his that always tasted a little sweet.

Chen decided this maybe was the right moment to take things a little further than he had originally thought he would do tonight, his hands running down Xiumin’s sides, down from his waist to his hips. The older could feel the touch through the thin material of his shirt, wishing he would be closer than he was before, being granted that wish just moments after when Chen’s fingers slipped under the hem of his shirt, not surprising to him, caressing the milky white skin of his, his fingers leaving trails of warmth behind on his skin, his heart beating faster than ever. All he could do is slightly moan into their kiss, now dominated by Chen’s skilful tongue, while the other fingers were running up his sides again.

Xiumin’s fingers had clumsily reached over to the remote control without him disconnecting their lips to turn off the annoying background noises from some weird Japanese drama. Closing his eyes again to fully savour the moment at hand, Xiumin reached back to Chen’s neck, slinging his arms around him, shifting closer than before so he could practically lean against his chest. The older felt his boyfriends hand on his sides, one moving up his chest very slowly. It wasn’t as if he didn’t enjoy what was going on, he was the initiator of this, after all, knowing very well why he had invited Chen to stay over other than his irrational unease with being alone at home while night-time, but even though this was definitely the right time, this was not the right place.

Slowly he separated their kiss, hoping to do what he needed to do before this would eventually get out of control, for him or Chen for that matter, whispering quietly: “We should go to my room.” He could feel Chen smile against the skin of his shoulder while he was running his lips languidly over it, only taking a few seconds to come up with a jokey reply: “I would carry you there but I am not sure I will find the way.” Xiumin had to chuckle before grabbing Chen’s jaw softly between his palms and placing a few soft kisses on the edges of his mouth, his nose and his forehead, before slipping off his lap, pulling him up too.

Xiumin liked the idea of kissing till they got into his room as they did in movies, bumping into walls and other things on the way, but because going to his room included two sets of stairs and in the end not doing this would most likely get them there a lot faster he decided against it, instead taking Chen’s hand and leading them to the admittedly slightly weird corridors of his house, orientation not getting easier with the fact that every door in this house looked exactly the same.

As soon as they both had entered his room, kicking the door shut behind them, they were back where they started, kissing passionately while Xiumin’s hands were buried in Chen’s messy curls and Chen’s hand on his boyfriend's hips. A few hesitant steps backwards while still kissing and Xiumin could feel the edge of his bed in the back of his knees, just asking for him to lean back and let himself plummet onto the king size bed backwards, pulling Chen with him. But before he would do that he still had to do something! Pulling a little on the dark-haired one's shirt to get his attention he separated their kiss for just a second, his lips still hovering over the others, whispering: “Take it off!”

Lucky for him Chen didn’t subject but did how he was told, smiling mischievously and then pulling Xiumin back into their make-out session his hands back to where they have been a few minutes ago, gently caressing the sensitive skin under his shirt. Emboldened by the elder's action it wasn’t long before Chen basically pulled Xiumin shirt off himself, emboldening the other to do what he had planned form the beginning, falling backwards onto his bed and pulling Chen with him. The younger ended up landing on top of him, but he wasn’t heavy so no harm was done.

As soon as Xiumin had to separate to finally get some air Chen decided to kiss down the other's neck, trying to find the spots that had made him moan so deliciously earlier.

“You’re greedy,” Xiumin mumbled when he felt the other's lips make their way down from his neck to his now bare chest.

“You started it,” Chen chuckled; Xiumin could feel him smiling by the way his lips had moved.

“I wasn’t complaining,” he answered, surprising a reaction from the older nibbling on his nipple. He was really sensible and Chen had definitely found that out and taken advantage of it.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Minutes later and it was Xiumin who decided to take the offense, flipping Chen onto his back while sitting on top of him, kissing his way down his bare chest, cheekily smiling while his hands were fumbling at the button on Chen’s jeans to pull them down, pulling off his boxers off at the same time, too impatient to let himself be bothered with things like these. Capturing the length of the other with his plump lips, smiling ever so slightly at the immediate reaction he received. This really was quite fun for him.

“Fuck,” Chen moaned out while the older was slowly working up and down his growing. “You’re the worst,” he called out when the older had decided to lick the tip. No bothering to reply at all he just smiled at the sight of him achieving exactly what he wanted. Teasing Chen was more fun than he had anticipated. When he let the other slip out of his mouth to take a good breath for just a second Chen had taken the opportunity to instead grab him by his shoulders and flip him around to now be in the dominant position again.

“You’re no fun,” Xiumin pouted but getting shut up by a few hot kisses pressed against his belly, before Chen pulled down the others pants the same way Xiumin had done it, receiving little help from Xiumin, who was watching him with hooded eyes. While the younger was busy with shedding his boyfriends remaining clothes Xiumin stretched out his arm to quietly open his bedside drawer, searching for the bottle he knew would be in there. With slightly shaky hands from a mixture of pleasure and participation, his fingers reached inside the drawer to pull out the things he was searching for and placing it onto the bed next to him, not unnoticed by the younger. He could clearly see the mischievous smirk that crept its way onto the curly haired boys face, seeing the not so subtle hind his boyfriend had given him.

“And I thought I was the impatient one of us,” he chuckled quietly before leaning in for a kiss while grabbing the small bottle the older had placed onto the bedsheets. Not knowing the brand or kind of lube this was not new to Chen, but he did notice it feeling slicker and more high quality than what he had used in the past when he was letting a good amount squirt onto his hands to coat his fingers thoroughly. If there was something he knew how to do, it definitely was this.

Xiumin squeaked a little when he felt the cold liquid around his entrance, trying to relax his muscle to prepare himself for what was about to come next. He knew how this worked, he didn’t feel any pain or discomfort when the first digit was inserted into him, pushing in and out lightly and slowly to prepare him for what was about to come. Inserting the second finger had him moaning, not in pain, more in anticipation. Chen was doing it slowly, carefully one might say, watching his lovers face most of the time, crooking his fingers ever so slightly upwards while pulling out, watching to see the reaction he would inevitably get when hitting that sweet spot every guy had. And he was not disappointed by the way Xiumin’s body bend and tensed up under his touch, making the older moan his name.

Not long after, after a third finger as added and Chen, when was sure his boyfriend was thoroughly prepared for what was about to come, reached over to the pack of condoms Xiumin had placed next to the bottle of lube before, picking one that seemed right. His boyfriend at this point was already a moaning mess, so pulling his fingers out of him was followed by a moan, sounding slightly disappointed, but waiting patiently and watching Chen with half-closed eyes while he was rolling the protection onto his length and adding a bit more lubricant to it. Yes, there was an amount of too much lube, but Chen had experience with this and he was nowhere close to that amount.

Chen was aligning himself carefully while waiting for the others permission. He probably didn’t really need one at this point, body language and all, but he liked to have a verbal clue before doing things, possibly stemming from a lot of times of doing it while intoxicated, when reading body language was just harder than waiting for verbal clues. But instead, the older just wrapped his legs around him, pushing him closer ever so slightly. Taking the hind Chen descended into him slowly, staying buried there till the tense features on his lovers face softened, then starting to gently rock back and forwards, letting a moan escape his lips.

He didn’t speed up for a while, not before Xiumin had moaned his name, causing Chen’s body to burn with need to do what he was doing faster than before, letting his patience and restraint set aside for a moment while he sped up the process, his hands all over his boyfriends body, but Xiumin’s likewise exploring his’s. He liked sucking on the sensitive areas on the elder's necks to make him moan even loader, liked the way the other dug his nails a little bit in his biceps whenever he managed to hit that special spot of his.

It was not long after when he came to the sound of Xiumin’s moans after he was riding of the wave of his own orgasm, contracting around Chen, pushing him over as well, moaning the older's name while he closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling that swept over his body, taking over most if not every of his senses for a short while, with nothing but pleasure and love. Finally, he was collapsing next to Xiumin, one arm and one leg wrapped around him in his somewhat possessive nature of keeping what’s his close to him so it wouldn’t get stolen, feeling his lover's heartbeat fast but steady and his breathing still hard, but a smile on his lips.

 

*******************************************************************************

 

It was the next day when they had woken up, Chen not wrapped possessively around Xiumin anymore but rather the other way around. They had woken up early from sunlight flooding the room. After cleaning themselves up they had just collapsed back into the bed, cuddling together, forgetting to close the blinds, causing them to wake up significantly earlier today than they needed to. Xiumin was lying on his stomach, one arm wrapped around the skinnier teen, his chin resting on Chen’s chest. His chest was a little bonier than the older had preferred, but he was not about to complain about minor things.

“Chen,” he whispered, getting a groan from the other. “I know you’re awake,” he stated, waiting for him to finally open his beautiful eyes. The younger gazed down to Xiumin laying comfortably on top of him, saying: “I learned a lot about you yesterday.”

“And that is?” he questioned curiously.

“That you are the kind of person to say I hate you while orgasming,” Chen chuckled, getting poked into his sides for that.

“I didn’t but even if I did, who are you to complain?”

“I wasn’t complaining, just stating the facts,” Chen chuckled, getting up a little to kiss his boyfriend. With a heavy heart, Xiumin also decided to shift into a sitting position next to Chen who was leaning against the headboard, cuddling into him.

“And you are great at making terrible jokes while keeping a straight face,” the other stated.

“Well, I am learning from the best,” the older answered pecking Chen’s lips just a little, making him smile again while also shaking his head just a little, irritated by the cuteness of his Hyung.

“By the way, one thing,” Xiumin said after a moment of silence, just them enjoying being close to each other without having a few hundred other students around. Chen pouted a little when the older separated himself from the arm slung around him to get up, but at least Chen could appreciate his pretty nearly naked body in the sunlight for once, while he bent over to get something out of a drawer at his desk.

“This is for you,” he stated, throwing something onto the bed before crawling back to his spot in his boyfriend's arms to enjoy more skinship before they had to inevitably get up and go to school. Chen looked confused at the little bag the other had thrown at him, soft but thin cotton material letting him guess what was inside, leaving him more confused than before.

“Where did you get this from?” he asked flustered while opening the little knot made in the string to keep the little bag closed.

“My dad is a doctor remember?” Xiumin said with no sign of remorse. “I told him why I needed one and he got one for me because he trusts me and apparently there is not much dumb stuff one can do with those anyways!”

Holding the blue inhaler between his slender fingers, examining the medication as if he had never seen one before, Chen just felt blessed: Blessed with someone like the cutesy Korean boy next to him, who apparently cared more about him than he had given him credit for.

“You know, I prefer my boyfriend’s not dead,” he commented with a straight face, making Chen smile and then kiss him again.

“What did your parents say when you told them you where gay?” he asked after a long moment of silence.

“My mom gave me a lecture about how this would not be an excuse to not provide her with grandchildren in the future, saying she wants some, adopted or not makes no difference,” he blabbed out, smiling at the thought of that memory.

“And your dad?” Chen asked curiously.

“Gave me a forty five minute lecture about STDs, Aids and things to not do, starting with the fact that there are different forms of lube and some don’t work with condoms, but I will have to use condoms so I should stay away from those and I cannot do it without lube cause that is a painful and stupid idea and so on and so on…,” Xiumin said mimicking a parent lecturing a child. “I was 11 god damn, that traumatized me,” he added, but Chen was already laughing out loud.

“That sounds hilarious,” he said between laughs.

“For you maybe, but my dad is a doctor so not only has he seen it all in the A&E, but also is he more than determined to make me not do any of these things,” he said. “And I don’t want to know about those!!!”

“He’s just helping you make good life choices,” Chen joked, still chuckling about the little anecdote he had just heard. “I wish I would’ve had all this knowledge when I was starting out.”

“No, you don’t! Trust me you don’t want that! There is nothing worse than your parents checking whether or not the lubricant you use is compliant with the latex of condoms. Just NO!” Those words were causing Chen to chuckle again, this all was not imaginable with his own parents, but it sounded so funny to him.

“Oh, and one more thing,” Xiumin said, getting up again, just to come back moments later, placing himself back next to his boyfriend, letting him wrap his slender arms around him again.

“What?” Chen asked curiously.

“This,” Xiumin said, handing Chen something he didn’t recognize until he looked.

“I can’t take that,” he said immediately, trying to hand the money back to Xiumin, but he had balled his hands to fists so there was no handing it back easily.

“Yes you can and yes you will,” Xiumin said with the most authoritative voice Chen had heard him use yet. Not angry or anything, just demanding.

“No I can’t,” he repeated looking flustered and misunderstood.

“Look, I know just as well as you know that if there is no way for you to buy yourself an inhaler, there is no way you can pay the 150 dollars in car reparations,” the older argued, shifting a little bit so he could stare Chen dead in the eye. If he was about to lie to him he should do it while looking him right in the eye. “Those medications are cheaper than this,” he argued, knowing there was not really something Chen had to hold against this.

“But I can’t just let you pay that for me,” he blurted out, looking hurt. It wasn’t like this wasn’t helpful or anything, but he couldn’t just let his boyfriend take care of his problems for him.

“Yes you can, and yes you will,” Xiumin said again, making Chen wonder if that was one of those sentences his parents always used, so he had copied that kind of behaviour.

“But I will not be able to pay you back, basically ever,” Chen whispered, ashamed by his own words, but there was no point in lying to himself. He had done this all week by telling himself he would find a way to get the cash.

“You can repay me in sexual favours,” Xiumin joked, keeping a straight face, but the edges of his mouth twitching a little.

“Hyung,” the younger sighed frustrated.

“Ok, ok, how about that, you keep it and instead you tell me what this whole thing was about,” the older suggested, staring into the dark brown eyes of Chen, waiting for a response.

“You don’t want to know,” Chen mumbled, overthinking whether or not to tell Xiumin about Mr Nahm and what he had done. He surely could spill this secret to his boyfriend right? The older was good at keeping things private, wasn’t he? If he could handle Luhan’s secrets, he probably could handle this.

“I do want to know,” Xiumin said again adding: “And I am not taking the money back so take it and live with the shame or tell me!”

“He molested a student,” Chen blurred out without a warning.

“What?” was all that left the elders lips.

“He molested a student, we don’t know who, but whoever it was, went to Mark and Mark went to the principal who told him she couldn’t do anything without having evidence, but the student is probably too scared to come forward, so we are waging war against him,” Chen explained patiently, trying to find something in Xiumin’s eyes.

“And you shouldn’t tell ok?” he said afterwards hoping the older understood the premise of being told a secret. He nodded just slightly, staring off into the room, looking like he was thinking about something.

“You ok?” Chen questioned.

“Yea, sure, I’m just… thinking,” Xiumin mumbled, sitting there for a little while, before getting up and exclaiming: “Get up, we need to get ready for school and we haven’t even had breakfast yet!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. I know I've disappeared for a while, but I am back now and I wanted to apologize for disappearing. I was really busy with university things and writing my bachelor thesis and just couldn't find the time to write and edit.  
> However, the next chapter will be out soon I promise.  
> Thank all of you that are still coming back to this story for coming back.  
> See you soon  
> XOXO

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, and welcome to my story ^-^  
> I hope you enjoyed it so far.  
> Don't worry if your favourite character hasn't had much screentime yet, I will get to them too.  
> This is a very long series I've been working on for a while, but I hope you enjoy the ride.  
> Leave a comment if you liked it so far. I will try my best to upload frequently. (a bunch of chapters are already prewritten, but I don't want to release them all at once to not scare anyone).  
> See you soon  
> XOXO  
> PS: for plot reasons, Luhan has to be a minor, but I didn't want Sehun to be 14 so he's older here, though he will still be considered the youngest. Just not that young.


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